Deep Sleep
by TuxedoMask2011
Summary: Part 3 of my saga. The Dark Kingdom is back and they are picking up where Queen Beryl left off. They are out for blood and will stop at nothing short of Earth's complete destruction. Can the Sailor Team and Carnage stop them in time?
1. Prologue

1Chapter 1: Prologue

The world was becoming a very scary place to live. Anyone conscious of the events unfolding around them could see that terrifying truth. Across the planet global unrest in all its forms was sweeping across the various nations of the Earth.

A word-wide economic recession had crippled many national governments resulting in the dramatic increase in global poverty levels and the overall loss of confidence of the people in power. This had led to hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs. People could no longer afford their homes and were forced to live out on the streets or in shelters.

As one can imagine, this caused many people to become very disgruntled with the current state of the planet and the people who were put in charge of it. Some people used their frustration constructively by trying to find new jobs and careers. Others spent their suddenly unexpected and unwanted free time with their families, intending to make up for the time lost while they had been working, and invest in what really mattered the most to them: family.

Many participated in peaceful protests at various government and big business offices. They voiced their displeasure at the governments' decisions to bail out the huge corporate entities in a desperate attempt to avoid slipping further into a global economic depression. This had not occurred since 1929 almost 81 years ago.

The remaining part of the world's population had chosen a more destructive form to deal with their personal stress and anger. The threat of worldwide terrorism had always been a concern for humankind since the days of medieval knights and kings. However, in the last few decades, the occurrence of such despicable acts was becoming more and more frequent.

The attacks of September 11th in America had forever shattered the peacefulness that the western world had enjoyed for so long. Over three thousand people were wiped out in that one series of highly organized and coordinated attacks with the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, the damage to the Pentagon and the air plane that crashed in the state of Pennsylvania. This statement declared that the conflicts of the Middle East and North Africa had finally managed to find their way across the vast Atlantic Ocean to America's doorstep.

The train bombings in Madrid, Spain and London, England a few years later killed more than 250 people. This only made the nervousness and tension felt across the world worse. People were now afraid to leave their houses as they became scared that they would be caught unexpectedly in another terror attack. This had, not surprisingly, made more and more people increasingly paranoid and, in some cases, dangerous.

The most common government response to this elevated level of fear was to increase their country's defense systems and military armaments. The civilians' answer was to purchase guns and other various forms of weapons to protect their families and houses from the perceived threats around them. Billions of dollars were spent by countries and their people in an attempt to make themselves feel safer within their borders. It was money that could have been better spent to re-energize their national economies and lower the overpowering feelings of anguish.

America's response to the rise in terror attacks was an abrupt invasion of the countries that they felt had allowed the September 11th attacks to occur: Afghanistan and Iraq. The terrorist organization behind the attacks was identified as Al-Queda and that they were receiving sanctuary and support from the Afghanistan government. The military chose to go into Iraq after getting intel that the country's leader, Sadam Hussain was housing and protecting Al-Queda strong holds. America had a long standing issue with Sadam that went back over a decade. America moved on both countries to safeguard their assets, both domestically and foreign, and met with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) to publicly declare that they were at war because of Al-Queda's actions and Sadam's sanction of them. America had felt it had lost its peace and that they needed to gain it back. For almost a decade, America had been at war with the two Middle Eastern countries and these wars severely taxed the limited monetary resources America had left following the global recession. In addition to all of this the growing civil unrest about the wars was steadily building which made the overall tension felt across the world that much more prominent. The planet Earth was teetering on the outbreak of another world war among its inhabitants and all it needed was one more push before the fragile peace it had been trying to maintain finally crumbled.

In a hidden base, located in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, a man smiled malevolently as he watched the latest round of news reports on a bank of television screens. His smile extended into a toothy grin as the current news caster reported that another American soldier had been killed by an improvised explosive device near Kabul in Afghanistan.

"Perfect. My grand plan is proceeding perfectly. Soon this world will implode and it will all be thanks to me."

With a wave of his hand the television screens clicked off and returned to their dormant blackness. He turned around and walked slowly to his stone throne as his hands rested lightly on the small of

his back. His knee high brown boots looked like something a champion equestrian rider might wear. His pants and jacket were a matching dark grey and he wore a pair of white dress gloves. His outfit eluded to old pictures of Russian czars and Indian rajas. His long raven black hair was neatly tied back into a ponytail.

As he casually walked towards the center of the room his mind began to replay the events of the past decade. He remembered every small victory and single step that had led him to this particular point in time. When he reached his chair he spun on his heel and gracefully sat down. He rested his elbows on the cold granite arms and leaned to support his head by his right hand.

"Queen Beryl was a fool! If she had just listened to me she would be here, basking in this delicious chaos I have put together, instead of being nothing more than a bad memory. But it serves her right for demoting me from the rank of Grand General and merging my soldiers with the other four. She put me through all that public humiliation, simply because I had the integrity to challenge her decision to take more direct action against the people of Earth!"

He began to laugh out loud as he remembered watching the remaining four Generals slowly fall one after the other, either by Queen Beryl's hand or in battle with the Sailor Soldiers. He laughed harder when the memory of the once mighty and arrogant Nephrite. The fool had been down on his knees and cared for by a weak human female before finally dying a pathetic death unworthy of a General of the Dark Kingdom.

"The Sailor Soldiers…"

His mind switched out of his trip down memory lane as he thought about the Sailor Soldiers. He had been observing them, occasionally, when they first appeared but had increased his surveillance of them following their victory over Queen Beryl. They had become extremely powerful and it certainly would be foolhardy of him to think that he could best them in direct combat especially since the appearance of the additional Sailor Soldiers. They seemed even more powerful than the original Sailors. He was well aware that once his master plan reached its final stage the chances of them learning of his existence would be greatly increased. He may then be forced into a confrontation with them.

"When that time comes, I will deal with it but for right now, there is still much work left to be done!"

His cruel smile returned to his face as he sat alone in the darkness of his base. The whistling of the drafts of air moving through the large cavern were the only other sounds besides his chuckling echoing off the thick walls of bedrock that made up his hideaway.


	2. The Gathering Storm

Chapter 1: The Gathering Storm

"Tragedy befell the country of America again yesterday as another one its military soldiers was killed while stationed in Afghanistan. Lance Corporal Andrew Stokes died when his company encountered an improvised explosive device at a roadside checkpoint near the capital city of Kabul. The corporal is survived…"

The television screen flashed white as it was abruptly clicked off. In Japan, the local news reports were hard at work to keep the country's population informed of the world's current events even the ones that didn't directly affect the country. Unfortunately, the majority of the Japanese people were not overly concerned with what was presently going on in the world especially if it was occurring on the other side of the globe.

For Haruka Tenoh, these events plus the other examples of the growing planetary anarchy only served to worry her even more about the growing evil she was sensing. She put down the remote control and returned her gaze outside the bay window she sat next too. She was dressed in a white button-up men's shirt. It was un-tucked and hung free from her black slacks. She was leaning against the side of the window frame with one white sock covered foot on the floor and the other on the window seat. Her short blonde hair could not hide the look of intense concentration she was currently engrossed in.

"The winds are picking up. I feel a storm coming!"

She looked over at her partner, and girlfriend, Michiru Kaioh. She was dressed in a light purple dress. Her aquamarine coloured hair was long enough that it fell just below her shoulders which only enhance her porcelain white skin's natural beauty. She was sitting on the light blue couch in the center of the room. She did not acknowledge her lover's comment. She chose instead to continue looking at the small item she held in her hands. Her expression was stern and unemotional but her eyes alive with an intense level of concern.

She held her enchanted mirror, one of the three sacred treasures they had found while fighting against their former enemy, the Death Busters. The mirror allowed Michiru to see through illusions and expose hidden secrets about people or places. It had proven quite invaluable when she and Haruka had to locate the camouflaged castle of Queen Badiane when she had kidnapped many of the Earth's children to steal their innocent dream energy to fuel her Black Dream Hole. After another minute of silence, Michiru finally looked up at her lover and returned her stare.

"The sea is churning violently and becoming very restless as well. My mirror cannot seem to find the source of these negative energies though."

Haruka's eyes narrowed as she processed that information. They were both Sailor Soldiers. Haruka was Sailor Uranus and Michiru was the sailor of the oceans, Sailor Neptune. They were part of the Outer Solar System team, whose highest priority was to protect the Milky Way Galaxy from outer space threats outside its galactic boundaries. If there was a new enemy beginning to make its move against Earth and their galaxy they had to find it and destroy it before it was too late.

As they sat in silence again the front door of their house opened and their two house mates briskly walked in. Setsuna Meiou, better known as Sailor Pluto, walked through the door carrying two large bags of groceries in her hands. Her long straight dark green hair hung all the way down to the back of her knees. She wore a light purple long sleeve jacket with matching skirt. The jacket had a collar design that made it appear much more formal than it really was. Under the jacket she wore a silk white button-up blouse with a large dark red bowtie in the centre. On her feet she wore a stylish-looking pair of black high heel shoes. They had straps that encircled her just above the ankle with a single thick band that ran down the middle to the top of her exposed foot to connect to its main body.

Her companion, Hotaru Tomoe, followed closely behind carrying a smaller bag of groceries in her hands. The bags appeared to be full of a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Hotaru followed Setsuna into the kitchen where she placed her bag on the counter with the others. She ran the palms of her hands down the front of her yellow long sleeve shirt to smooth out any wrinkles that carrying the bag may have caused. She fixed the thick white collar of her shirt before looking down to inspect her dark purple and pink skirt. A pair of light brown loafers and light purple socks completed her outfit. When she was satisfied that she had not soiled her clothes, she sharply lifted her head causing her shoulder length black hair to jerk backwards before falling back into place.

"Haruka, have you been sensing any negative feelings recently?"

Haruka turned to look at her as Michiru broke her glance from her mirror. Setsuna stopped briefly from putting the food items away into their appropriate cabinets. All of them remained silent. It was clear that every single one of them had indeed felt some sort of ominous energy in their own way, and that it was strong enough to cause some level of concern in each of them.

"Has your mirror been able to reveal anything?" Hotaru asked as she looked at Michiru.

"No Hotaru. My mirror is only giving me blurry images." She replied.

"Something is approaching. We need to find out what it is and stop it." Haruka added.

"I agree Haruka. Should we tell the others about our concerns?" Setsuna asked the group.

Setsuna and Hotaru remained silent as they waited for Haruka's response to Michiru's question. Setsuna as the guardian of time was privy to knowing the events of the past and the future. She was well aware of events that were yet to come and when they would occur. Her sacred responsibility made her duty bound to let those events unfold as they were meant to, regardless of how terrible or lethal those events were. Her personal mission that had been assigned her, in addition to the protection of the Moon Princess, was to ensure that Crystal Tokyo was created and the Earth and Moon Kingdoms be reunited in peace and harmony. It put her in a very difficult position which her team mates tried very hard to understand. They knew that she could provide the answers or information that would allow them to stop whatever was coming, but she could not reveal those details as that could lead to a change in future events.

Hotaru looked up at Setsuna as her expressive eyes flashed with concern enhancing the worried look that spreading across her young face. Although, physically, her body was that of a seven year old her level of maturity was on par with her older comrades. She was the designated leader of the Outer Sailor Soldiers and the others respected her authority despite her youth.

As she looked at Setsuna she contemplated about whether to ask for advice. A true leader knew when to seek the counsel of others when faced with difficult decisions. Having the Inner Sailor Soldiers on alert and searching for information on the coming menace might prove useful to their overall situation. All they had right now were intuitions and feelings which was giving them nothing solid to go on. Alarming their friends with no real evidence would serve no purpose other than ruining the peace they were all enjoying since the final battle against Galaxia and the Shadow Galactica Empire about a month ago.

"No. For right now, let us gather more information about our new enemy. When we have uncovered enough, we will tell them."

The other women quietly nodded their heads to show that they acknowledged her viewpoint and response. Setsuna turned and resumed putting the groceries away with Hotaru's help. Michiru put her mirror on the table before her before leaning back on the couch. Her hands rested lightly on her lap as her body language showed that she was concentrating her Sailor intuition on the waters of the Earth. She hoped that her connection with the seas would provide a clue as to what their next move should be or what was behind the possible threat they were sensing. Haruka returned to look out the bay window. She stared at the outside world that was currently bathed in warm sunshine and a baby blue sky.

_Let them enjoy this well-deserved time of peace a little while longer_ She thought to herself.

_16 years ago… _

In a remote region of the Hindu Kush Mountains that ran from the northeast to the southwest regions of the country of Afghanistan, was a large cavern. This particular area was known as the Central Highlands, which formed a part of the Himalayas mountain range and accounted for roughly two thirds of the country's land. This specific region contained thousands of caves and grottoes that were created through thousands of years of weather erosion and land upheavals. The various mountain ranges also offered numerous and extensive underground tunnels and dozens of large open caverns.

In America, and several other countries, such natural formations were often used as tourist attractions. They drew thousands of people each year to their locations with the offer to explore the world below the surface of the Earth and see the natural sights. The caves also provided an opportunity for thrill-seekers who enjoyed participating in the activity of spelunking or cave diving. In the Hindu Kush Mountains, the caves of these mountain ranges had another more sinister use. They served as hideouts and staging areas for several large groups of terrorists and anarchists. The largest group to use these mountains was the Al-Qaeda global terrorist organization.

A small group of men were huddled over a large wood table in the centre of a small cavern. Across the top of the table, were various pieces of paper and large photographs. Some were blueprints for various world-renowned buildings or other strategic targets, such as military ships or outposts. There were several hand-written notes or printed documents in Arabic. These contained either orders from senior officials of the organization or intelligence information from other Al-Qaeda teams around the world. Mixed in with the mess of papers were several photographs and satellite surveillance pictures of potential targets and specific land areas that they were currently monitoring.

Along the stone walls that made up the cavern a series of simple electric lamps were hung up around the cavern. In the limited light that they provided, one could see that they were loosely nailed into the hard stone and were all connected by a thick extension cord that looped down between the units. An extension cord was braced against the rock wall with cheap steel fastener clips. In the confines of the cavern, the artificial light emitted from the lamps created a dim and gloomy atmosphere inside the cavern. On the edges of the wood table two modest desk lamps with adjustable necks were securely attached to the tabletop. Their electric cords were plugged into another extension cord that joined with another before extending down an adjacent tunnel. The loud echoing of a mechanical machine would lead someone to make the logical conclusion that the cords connected to a gas-powered generator located in a small alcove off of the main room and about halfway down the side passageway.

"America is continuing to exert its military might in Israel. Our brothers in HAMAS are suffering heavy losses due to the weapons being supplied to the Israelis!" One of the men said, addressing the group around him.

"We must show them that we are serious in our cause. America must learn to not interfere in affairs that do not concern them!" Another man added, visibly the youngest of the squad.

"I agree!" A deep voice said from somewhere behind them.

The men jerked their bodies around and looked towards a darkened corner of the cavern's open space. There shouldn't have been anyone else with them inside their base. They weren't expecting any visitors so the sudden announcement put them into extreme panic. They all quickly grabbed their automatic machine guns that had been leaning against the sides of the table and nearest wall. In short order, the gun barrels were trained and pointed at the spot where they had heard the foreign-sounding voice.

"Who is there? Show yourself!" One of the men shouted as he trained his gun in a wide left-to-right pan.

"As you wish."

A tall man with shoulder length black hair casually withdrew from the shadows. His hair was neatly tied back into a ponytail. His hands were behind his back as he casually walked into the light emitted from the desk lamps and wall lights. His brown knee high boots made a thumping sound as they struck the rough stone floor with each step he took. His light grey uniform with red seams was completed with a pair of white silk gloves. He took position in front of them, leaving about five feet of open space between him and the clearly nervous group of men around the table.

"Is that better?"

The men trained their guns on the intruder aiming for his head and heart. Their minds were a fury of thoughts. Was this person part of a squad? If so, how many other members of his team were with him and where were they now?

Their vast knowledge of various counter-terrorism and military units from across the world was telling them that this man was not part of a known organization. A man with such training would not expose himself so causally, and by all appearances he was not carrying a weapon on his person.

Several seconds had passed and no other attack or offensive had occurred. This made them begin to believe that this person was just as he appeared to be: all alone. This did little to ease their anxiety. If he was truly on his own, what had he done to ensure his safety that allowed him to expose himself? Even a novice mercenary would not take on a group of heavily armed men without some sort of plan.

"Who are you? How did you find us?"

"My name is not important. As to how did I find you , people like you are cockroaches. You are despised by all except a select few and serve no real purpose other than being an annoyance. Like most insects, you enjoy the comfort of dark spots. It was only logical that a cave would be a natural location to look for you."

"You American dog! How dare you speak to us like that! We will kill you where you stand for the glory of our cause!"

The men lifted their guns and fired in a simultaneous barrage of bullets. The man showed no signs of fear. Instead, he smirk as the hail of deadly metal rocketed towards him. He lifted his right hand as the men pressed the triggers of their AK-47s. As the first light flares erupted from the barrels of their guns a semi-transparent blue wall instantly became visible in front of him.

As the bullets struck the barrier a circular hue of white appeared at the points of impact and the blue energy rippled across its surface. It gave the visual of a heavy rainfall striking the surface of a body of water. The man continued to stare at his attackers through the hazy barrier as his body maintained its original aura of supreme confidence and arrogance.

After a minute, the men one by one stopped shooting. Their faces held expressions of bewilderment and surprise as they looked upon the after effects of their violent assault. The man remained where he stood with no visible signs that their bullets had made contact with his body. As his attackers stared, the man lowered his hand and the simmering blue barrier flashed once before disappearing completely from sight.

"My turn—"

The man snapped the fingers on his right hand. In an instant, each one of the guns imploded in the men's hands. The implosions were not big enough to seriously harm them, but more than sufficient to render the guns useless. The men dropped what was left of their weapons to the floor. Grey smoke billowed out from inside them. Their facial expressions shifted from surprise and confusion to terror and panic.

"What are you?" The young terrorist asked, the tone of fear clear in his voice.

"I am someone that can help you realize your full potentials. My superior wants to support your cause and bring your message to the people of this world. Your attack on the World Trade Center in America three years ago got my leader's attention."

The man began to walk around the room, his hands seeking a spot against his lower back. He stopped as he passed by the wooden table and turned to look at it. He spread some of the papers around with his hand as he looked at the different material that lay out across its surface. His mouth curled up into a cruel smile as his white gloved fingers continued to slide the papers around, allowing him to see the materials underneath. A single 'humph' escaped his lips as he lifted his head and resumed his pace around the room.

"In that little bit of chaos you managed to only kill six people. The fear that you created as a result of that was far more memorable. Yes, my master was quite pleased with that result of your little operation!"

He stopped walking and turned to once again face the men. He stood straight, reaching his full height of 6-foot-3. His body became tense and rigid giving hints to the hidden physical strength that was concealed beneath his uniform. His face again displayed the cruel smile showing the top row of impossibly white teeth. His eyes were the most noticeable feature. They were light brown, cold and emotionless. Looking in to them was like looking into the eyes of a sociopath or inanimate doll.

The look he gave the men as they stared filled them with feelings of extreme nervousness and fear. The hatred they felt towards the western world and their ideologies was nothing compared to the sense of malevolence that this man radiated in spades. They could tell that his words of respect at their past accomplishment meant nothing. This person was completely filled with evil and would no doubt slaughter each of them in an instant without a second thought if it served his or his master's overall purpose.

"As I stated earlier, we feel that you could do far better in accomplishing your overall goals. Killing six people at once is a tragedy. Killing a thousand people or more in one event, that is not only memorable but legendary!"

The man paused, his motivational speech to let his words sink in with each of the men. They risked exchanging glances with each other as their eyes silently conversed among themselves. It was true that their attack on the World Trade Center had accomplished little in terms of long term effects on America and its allies. They needed something far grander for the world to stand up and take notice of them and their cause.

"What do you purpose we do?"

The man's smile instantly grew wider. A small spark of what possibly passed for excitement flashed across his cold brown eyes. His body noticeably loosened and became more relaxed. _These humans were not as dumb as Queen Beryl had led me to believe,_ he thought.

He returned to the table and spread the assortment of papers aside to expose a clean section. He motioned for the men to gather around him so he could tell them his idea. The men hesitated, but slowly began to file around the table. When they finished taking their individual positions the tall man panned his eyes around at them, catching each of their gazes as they waited eagerly to hear his plan.

"This is what we have in mind for you and your organization."

The man waved his hand over the cleared section of the table. As his hand passed over its surface a pile of blueprints, pictures and schematics appeared underneath. The sudden materializing of the items caused some of the men to gasp and a few whispered a quiet utter of their lord's name, Allah.

A smile appeared on the man's face when he saw and heard their reactions. He now understood why Queen Beryl had picked this part of the world to start his ultimate mission. In this region, the people here were far too superstitious, believing that any sign of something magical or unnatural was the work of their fictitious god. This would make his work much easier than he had expected, but also disappointed him some. A victory without battle or challenge was hollow and unworthy for the Grand General of the Dark Kingdom.

"If you destroy these targets," he said, pointing to differing locations on his map, "the world will forever know of your organization and your names will echo throughout the historical ages."

In reaction, the men's eyes lit up with that bold statement. Even in the most remote parts of the world the images of the Pentagon, the military centre for America, and the White House, the home of the American President, were instantly recognizable. In seemingly no time at all, the exhilaration the men were feeling rapidly built up inside them. They all silently agreed that the man was indeed correct if they could launch a successful attack on both or, at the very least, one of these locations, America's spirit would be forever broken and they could claim victory at long last.

After a few quiet seconds, the mysterious man held up the image of the third and final target. Like the others, it was immediately recognizable but the men's faces immediately lost some of their newly gained lustre. They glanced around at each other unsure of what they should do. After a minute, one of the men cleared his throat and bravely began to speak shakily of the concern they all shared.

"My dear servant of Allah, with all due respect, that target will be near impossible to get to. Since our attack on, it three years ago, the American authorities have increased the security around it. We will not be able to get close enough to it on the ground to have any real effect."

The man began to laugh manically, matching his cold dead eyes, and dripping with contempt and scorn which lightly concealed his amusement. His laughter brought the overwhelming feeling of nervousness back to the men as they remained around the table. They could not predict what this messenger of Allah was going to do next. Some of them prepared themselves to witness some form of brutal punishment against the man that had dared to question Allah's plan.

The man stopped laughing and stood fully upright once again. He ran his white gloved hands down the front of his uniform, from his chest down to the bottom of his jacket, to smooth out any wrinkles that his outburst had caused. When he was satisfied that his appearance matched the level of respect he demanded, he turned to face the man that had dared to speak up.

"My dear comrade, I never said that you would be attacking from the ground."

He reached for a schematic and held it up for the men to see. The image on the paper was of a passenger airplane. He could immediately tell that they still hadn't fully grasped what he was alluding to. He sighed to himself and fought off the urge to rip these ignorant flesh bags to pieces for their utter stupidity.

"You are going to attack from the air."

End of Chapter One…


	3. A Moment of Peace

Chapter 2: A Moment of Peace

It was an exceptionally beautiful day in the city of Tokyo, Japan. High above the busy streets of the city's central core, the bright sun shined down upon the land warming the early autumn afternoon air. The clear baby blue skyline was lightly filled with white fluffy clouds which gently and slowly moved across the vast expanse of open space. Every so often, a small flock of black-tailed gulls would appear as they flew overhead before disappearing into a group of trees or around the corner of one of the tall buildings. The black and grey colours of their feathers made them very easy to spot among the bright natural light of the afternoon.

In Riverside Park, the picturesque scene was no different. Many people had taken to the outside to enjoy the day's warm weather. Quite a few were inside the park doing a variety of activities such as walking dogs, having a picnic on one of the grass covered hills, or tossing a frisbee with some friends. In the centre of the park was the area designed for the younger children. This was the spot where the swings, slides, water jets and spring horses were located.

A group of young children were laughing and frolicking about as they climbed and explored the various large and brightly coloured playground apparatuses. They raced each other up and down the chain-link ladder and back and forth over the arched wooden plank bridge. Every once and awhile one of the braver kids would attempt to slide down the fire pole or climb up one of the two slides. They ran up and down in a continuous loop. They slid down the slides and broke into an excited run as soon as their feet touched the sand covered the area before climbing back onto the equipment to do it again. Their endless amounts of energy and bright happy faces made it impossible for anyone with a gentle soul to not smile and feel good about life in general. For Makoto Kino, who was one of the several observers watching the children as they played, she was certainly no exception to this feeling.

She was sitting on a park bench facing the playground. Her legs were crossed at the ankles and her hands rested lightly in her lap. Her long curly brown hair was tied back into her usual ponytail with two thin strands of hair hanging loosely down either side of her face. She was still dressed in the uniform of her high school, Tenth Street High. Her school uniform consisted of a navy blue skirt and a loose white long sleeve shirt that had matching navy blue wrist cuffs. Her shirt had a large square collar and bow that also matched the navy blue. A dark red line ran along the interior of the collar and horizontally through the middle of each of her wrist cuffs. A pair of black slip-on shoes with a small heel wedge completed her outfit.

As she continued to watch the children play her mind drifted, remembering previous times where she had taken a moment from her busy life to appreciate such simple pleasures like this. She had found herself coming to places like this more recently than she had in the past. She felt that she knew the reason why but for the moment, she gently shook her head and refocused her attention on the nice tableau occurring before her. She re-positioned her body on the bench by shifting her body weight. The hard wood of the bench was pressing into the back of her thighs causing her minor discomfort.

After she found a more satisfactory position, she returned to the postcard and photograph lying in her lap. She had been staring at them before the laughter of the small children caught her attention. The postcard had been mailed from Cape Town, South Africa. On one side was a beautiful image of the city with its mixture of large office buildings and smaller structures lining the vast sandy shoreline of the southern Atlantic Ocean. The other side of the card displayed a short note written in perfect Japanese.

_Makoto _

_I miss you and can't wait until my task is finally completed. The reported occurrences of this demonic species are becoming less and less. I hope that means that I am nearing the end of my journey and I can finally come back to your loving arms. I hope you and the girls have been continuing to receive the care packages that I have been sending. I have enclosed a picture of some of the young people that are still around today due to my timely involvement. _

_Eternally yours, _

_Sean_

Makoto sighed and closed her eyes as she let those words echo in her head for a while. The image of the ocean-side city appeared behind her closed eyes and her imagination began to take over. She wanted nothing more than to travel the world with Sean and visit places such as Cape Town with him. She had always been a romantic at heart and longed to have a boyfriend hold her tight in their arms as they looked out over a majestic piece of landscape.

One of the places she wanted to see was Rome, Italy. She had seen pictures of it when she was younger. The architecture of the buildings, both new and old, made the city seem simply incredible. She knew that Sean had been there several times during the time he had been a nomad before meeting up with and joining the Sailor team. He had told her in great detail about the city itself, the remains of the Coliseum, and the preserved ruins of Ancient Rome. The way and manner he had described the city only served to strengthened her resolve to see it for herself before her time was permanently up on this planet.

She had never had the opportunity to travel outside of Japan so the dream of seeing faraway lands, and the romantic settings that they provided, greatly appealed to her. However, her paralyzing fear of airplanes was the one major obstacle that stood in her way of experiencing this beautiful dream. Ever since her parents were killed in a plane crash when she was very young she had been unable to be near any sort of aircraft without suffering a severe panic. Her fear had grown to the point where even having a plane fly in the sky above her would cause her body to violently tremble and shake.

She and Sean had talked about her crippling fear several times in the past. He had promised to help her overcome her aerophobia when he returned from completing his final task for the Illuminati. The Illuminati was the central organization in charge of personally defending the Earth. She wasn't sure if Sean would be able to succeed in that particular vow but she had total faith that he would try everything possible to return to her as soon as he could.

She turned her attention to the photograph. A group of small young boys and girls were huddled around Sean in his full Carnage costume. His frightening appearance did not seem to bother the young children some of them even embraced him and wrapped their small arms around his arms and neck. The children looked to be around the ages of six and seven. There were a few adults in the picture as well. Makoto guessed that they were the mothers of some of the children in the picture. They were standing to the left and right of the main group of children and Carnage. The smiles on their faces showed that they were enjoying the happiness of the moment as much as the children and Makoto hoped they were also grateful to this special person for saving their precious little ones.

Makoto tilted her head up and closed her eyes again as a smile stretched across her face. She was proud that Sean was making such a difference in the world and helping so many people at the same time.

"What have you got there in your hands Mako-chan?"

Makoto's head snapped forward as the sudden question cut through her quiet reflection. She recognized the voice as belonging to her dear friend, Usagi Tsukino. She turned her head and saw that not only was Usagi there but all of her close friends. Minako Aino, Ami Mizuno and Usagi were all dressed in their school uniforms, the same navy blue and white assemble from Tenth Street High. Rei went to a Catholic high school so her uniform was completely different from the others.

Makoto's smile grew as she looked at the smiling faces of her best friends. She held the picture and postcard out for them to see knowing that they wouldn't leave her alone until she did so. Usagi and Minako eagerly snatched the items from her and stared intently at them. Rei and Ami peered over their shoulders as their interest and curiosity had been peaked. Makoto remained sitting on the bench and continued to smile as she let her friends' infectious enthusiasm wash over her.

"Ohhh… South Africa! That is a change. Wasn't he in Switzerland last month?" Minako chirped.

"Oh yes, that Swiss chocolate he sent me was incredible!" Usagi beamed with a wide smile.

"Usagi! You haven't finished the whole ten pounds already, did you?" Rei sighed, knowing the answer already.

"Of course! I finished that after three days!" Usagi stated proudly.

"You are going to gain weight and then Mamoru will be sad!" Rei countered.

"Ohhh… what is that supposed to mean Rei?" Usagi replied with surprise and clear annoyance.

Ami turned her head away from them and Minako rolled her eyes. They both knew what was about to happen. As Rei and Usagi squared off for another one of their shouting matches, Minako grabbed the postcard from Usagi's hand so that it wouldn't get damaged in the rapidly approaching version of their usual comedy routine. Ami took a second look at the photograph when Minako returned to a spot beside her.

"Another group of kids he saved from the War Wolves?"

Makoto nodded her head to answer her question. Sean's final task for the Illuminati Council was the complete extinction of the demonic species known as the War-Wolf. These were demons were much like the classic interpretation of the werewolf, completely covered in coarse black fur with razor-sharp claws. This specific breed of demon hunted in packs and became bipedal when they reached adulthood, unlike their smaller cousins. The traditional version of werewolves, often featured in many works of literature, depicted them as retaining some small shard of humanity from their human hosts. These War-Wolves were pure demon, and very savage and feral. The main reason they had received the full attention of the Illuminati was their primary choice of food: children under the age of seven.

Alistair, the liaison charged with assigning Sean this specific mission, had misled them when he had agreed to let him take a permanent position in Japan after completing this final assignment. When explained at the airport, they believed it would be a one stop search-and-destroy type of task. This genre of operation usually meant finding the nest/lair of the targeted enemy and killing all the occupants that were present.

However, the War-Wolves had actually spread to several different locations around the world. There were confirmed sightings as far north as Moscow, Russia and as far south as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It had been extremely frustrating for all of them when Alistair's deception had been revealed. Makoto and her friends came to understand that these children needed to be protected, and that she couldn't ask Sean to turn his back on them just for the sake of their individual happiness.

It had been a very tough year and a half, but they had managed to stay in frequent contact with each other. He had sent them gifts from the different countries that he visited and had not missed any of their birthdays and did whatever he could to stay involved in their lives despite the great distances between them. So in a way, he was still with them, even it was only in spirit.

"How was cooking club today Mako-chan?" Ami asked to break the silence.

"It was ok. We made apple pies today. Though the teacher's recipe was not as good as mine." Makoto said with a hint of pride.

Ami giggled at Makoto's comment. She was happy that her friend was coping enough to retain her sense of humour. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to be in a long distance relationship like Makoto was. It was true that she had previously had something similar about two years ago when she had gone on a few dates with a young boy named Ryo Urawa. He had moved away shortly after their second date because of his father's work. They had remained in touch through phone calls and letters, and even occasionally visited each other when their busy schedules allowed. The last time they had seen each other in person was just under a year ago when his scheduled visit to her ended with him involvement in their battle with Apsu and the Opposito Senshi. When that threat was defeated they lost touch and she was now beginning to worry about him.

"There was talk about making me captain of the volleyball club today!" Minako reported with some playful smugness.

"That's awesome Minako. You will do great in that role if they choose you." Makoto said.

Minako smiled and blushed a little at Makoto's vote of confidence. True to her nature she quickly recovered and made a peace sign with two of her fingers. Her smile changed from sweet and innocent to confident and proud.

"Of course I will! I am the best!" Minako stated.

Rei and Usagi finished their petty argument and tongue-lashing to rejoin the group. Minako handed the postcard and photograph back to Makoto, who quickly glanced down at them again. Usagi and Ami sat down on the bench on either side of her while Minako and Rei took positions behind them in the open spaces between.

"So…what are we going to do today? Usagi inquired.

"We could go to the Crown Game Centre and have a driving game tournament." Minako suggested.

"Mina-chan… you just want to beat all of us again so you can brag about it" Rei countered.

"Not true Rei! Ami almost beat me last time. Today could finally be the day that I get dethroned!" Minako shot back.

The girls looked at her with rolled eyes. It was crystal clear what their expressions were saying in response to her comment. Minako saw the looks from them and maintained her composure. She gave them a wide grin and held her hands up in a dismissive gesture.

"Your right. I would still win. So what are our other options then?"

The girls were silent for a minute as they each thought about possibilities. It was a late autumn afternoon, and too cold for the beach. The Crown Fruit Parlour was the obvious choice as it had become their new hangout following the destruction of the Death Buster organization. However, the girls wanted to do something more fun than sit around slipping fruit flavoured tea or smoothies for the rest of the day.

"Hey! There is that new movie starring that dreamy Reynolds guy. We should go check that out!" Minako said after some silence.

"Oh my god… that sounds great! I love that guy!" Makoto chirped.

"He is cute but my Mamoru is way cuter!" Usagi proudly said.

"Ohh Usagi! Enough already." Rei loudly sighed, putting her hand to her face.

"Are you in Ami?" Minako asked, trying to avoid another square between the two friends.

"Sure, he is a good actor and very easy on the eyes." Ami quietly replied with a smile.

The girls stopped their individual conversations to stare at Ami. They were completely surprised by her unexpected comment. It was rare for Ami to talk about anything that wasn't related to school, chess, or academics. The girls' intense staring made Ami's face blush bright red. She covered her face with her book bag, and her blue eyes widened with embarrassment as her shy nature broke to the surface again.

"Ok, so let go then! If we hurry, we can catch the next showing."

Makoto carefully tucked the postcard and photograph back inside her book case before standing up. The girls stood from the bench at the same time. They grouped together and began to walk towards the Juban movie multiplex. They continued to laugh and talk as they walked. These moments helped Makoto push any thoughts of Sean and her loneliness from her mind.

_7 years ago … December 26th 2004 _

It was pitch black in every direction. A strong wind blew across the rough ocean water. It moved at a stronger force than normal for the time of year. It was the day after Xmas for many of the people on Earth a day laughingly called Boxing Day.

He hovered over the ocean water as the waves licked at his brown boots. He did not pay any attention to them as he prepared himself for the sole purpose of him coming to this spot. Queen Beryl had told him to take his assignment to the next level. She had been very pleased with his past successes in creating global unrest among the Earth's population thus far but now wanted to further increase the feelings of fear and sadness among its inhabitants.

Over the past eight years his careful manipulations of the so called War on Terror had bred some delicious fruit. The confidence he had instilled in the Al-Qaeda organization had caused them to launch successful attacks on two United States embassies in Africa and a daring assault on the United States warship: the U.S.S. Cole. Their latest act was a series of explosions in the subway system of Madrid, Spain. He had been especially pleased with that specific operation it had resulted in 191 deaths.

Queen Beryl had felt it was now time to change strategies. He and his minions needed to be extremely careful now. Up until then, they had used cloaking spells to provide and plant falsified information to the people in power and eliminated anyone that could directly identify them once they had out-lived their usefulness. There could be absolutely no suspicion of the Dark Kingdom's involvement or the world's leaders would turn their attention on them. That would make their lives unnecessarily difficult.

It had recently dawned on him that influencing the forces of nature would be a perfect way to both further distract the Earth's people, allowing the Dark Kingdom to continue to operate un-noticed as well as kill more people that could eventually pose as opposition for them when they finally took direct action against the people of Earth.

His lieutenant, Danburite, had found a location that would allow him to cause a massive tidal wave that would spread outwards to the nearby landmasses. Those countries had very high populations, meaning number of casualties would be very high, which is exactly what he wanted.

He outstretched his arms while extending his fingers and flexing the large muscles underneath his uniform. _It was time_, he thought to himself. He brought his arms out in front of him. As he tilted his body forward his hands aimed down towards the water. He focused his mind on the satellite pictures that Danburite had provided him and visualized the Sunda Trench located far below the ocean's surface.

As he firmly concentrated on his target he felt his telekinetic power take hold of either side of the trench. When he felt his psychic hold was secured he slowly began to spread his arms outwards, widening the gap between the two pieces of the Earth's crust. It was taking all of his concentration and effort to perform such an awesome display of raw magical power. Beads of sweat started to form and drip down the side of his face, and his hands trembled a bit as the physical toll on his body began to take effect.

Once he felt the gap was wide enough to suit his overall purpose he quickly switched his attention to the part of the Earth's crust known as the India Plate, which made up one side of the trench. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He brought forth the image of the underwater photograph of the plate that his other servant, Lagos, had given him. He intensely concentrated again as he used his inhuman power to push down on the plate. The incredible downward push from his magic caused the plate to slide under the other side of the Sunda Trench, known as the Burma Plate.

He felt the physical resistance ripple through his brain as the rough surface of the ocean floor pushed past the underside of the Burma Plate. He grunted loudly as he forcibly willed his power to continue to move the land mass more and more, inch by inch. Loud thundering cracks and snaps could be heard from somewhere deep below the ocean's surface. They echoed off the rolling waves and sharply blowing night air. With one final burst of raw mental power, he drove the plate even further beneath the Burma Plate. A single earsplitting thunderclap sound, much louder than before, pierced the quiet night air.

The water underneath him rippled and began to violently churn as the natural forces released from his actions began to take effect. A few seconds later, a gigantic air bubble erupted from the water as it splashed upwards with seemingly incredible force. He quickly surrounded himself in a sphere of semi-transparent purple energy to protect himself from the unbelievable amount of geological energy released from the collision of the two tectonic plates.

The air bubble's surface break, when added with the churning of the water caused by the shift in the land masses underneath it, created a series of large waves that spread out in a perfect 360 degree circle from his location. As he watched the waves flow at high speeds away from him he saw that they were getting bigger and picking up speed as they raced towards the nearest land mass.

_It is done_, he pleasantly thought to himself. Now he had go back to his base and watch the news reports about the devastation those waves were going to cause in the short amount of time they would make landfall. He was very confident that Queen Beryl would be pleased with the results of this operation. Perhaps his success here would finally be enough to secure his position as the Grand General from that pompous upstart, Kunzite. It always brought him great pleasure when he was able to take that arrogant blow-hard and his clingy protégée, Zoisite, down a peg or two.

He watched the waves as they disappeared over the horizon to the north and east of him. It was just after midnight which marked the start of a brand new day. In just a few hours the people in this part of the world would be waking up from their deep sleeps. They would open their eyes and see their way of life washed away by the unforgiving power of the ocean. That delightful realization was very amusing to him and his smile grew wider as he thought about how the people of Earth would never know the real truth behind the tidal waves and the massive earthquake that had caused them.

He began to laugh loudly as he disappeared in a glimmer of white light which briefly lit up the dark night sky before returning to the dead and quiet calm that it had been a few minutes before.

End of Chapter 2…


	4. His Heart is far away

1Chapter 3: His Heart is far away

The calm ocean water stretching far out into the distance before him seemed to be the only thing calming the restlessness he felt inside his soul. The sounds of the gentle white-capped waves as they washed up upon the sandy beach of the coastline increased the tranquility of the natural environment currently surrounding him. After all the horrors he had seen in his life, especially very recently, any semblance of peace that he could find was a most welcomed occurrence.

He gazed out upon the water as the morning sunshine sparkled along its gently rippling surface. In his peripheral vision, he glanced over at the empty chairs placed around the table he currently sat. He quietly sighed as his heart sunk while he envisioned the people he wanted more than anything to be sitting in those chairs with him.

He was at a café that was within a stone's throw from the ocean's shoreline located directly across the street. It was very early in the morning, so very few people were out walking or driving along the streets, making this part of the city very quiet. He had been the very first customer for the café's staff when they had opened about ten minutes ago. The bright sun was slowly rising from the east behind him, shining through the tall buildings making up the central core of the large city. It was casting long shadows out over the sandy beach and water only making the scene seem even more surreal.

He could see why many people considered this city to be one of the most beautiful locations on Earth, and why thousands of people traveled great distances every year to experience the magic it seemed to radiate. Perhaps one day he would bring Makoto back here for a vacation, he thought to himself as he sipped his cup of green tea. Of course, she would first have to overcome her crippling aerophobia. But Makoto was a strong spirited young woman and he was confident that she would be able to overcome her fear someday.

He sighed again as the image of Makoto and their friends, the Sailor Soldiers, flashed again in his mind. He was still in Cape Town, South Africa awaiting his next destination in his seemingly endless battle against the demonic species known as the War-Wolves. For the past year and a half, this had become routine. He would be sent to a specific geographical location or city, find the den of demon wolves, and proceed to destroy them and return any survivors he found to their families. Afterwards, he would then wait for his contact to tell him where to go next.

In the beginning, his contact would give him several locations of confirmed sightings of the wolves and then meet up with him once those identified areas were cleansed of the un-holy infection. Lately, he had been noticing that the number of affected areas had been getting smaller and smaller. It gave him hope that he could be nearing the end of his final mission at long last. It strengthened his belief that perhaps he would be back in Japan soon and be reunited with what he considered to be his new family: Tuxedo Mask and the Sailor Soldiers.

His time in South Africa had been surprisingly longer than in any of the previous locations he had traveled to. The wolves' den here in Cape Town had been relatively easy to find. The natural geography of the area had limited the number of locations they could have used to set up a lair.

War-Wolves were huge creatures, standing approximately seven feet tall with heavily muscled bodies that made them look like American Football linebackers. They walked on two legs when fully grown which gave them the appearance of a humanoid. They were covered from head to toe in thick bristly black fur, their fingers and toes ending with razor-sharp claws. Their heads were dog-like with pointed ears that stood straight, like a German Shepherd, and a long snout with large pointed teeth and a pair of medium sized pitch black eyes. They were nocturnal creatures who broke into people's houses when they could smell young children inside. Their acute sense of smell was able to detect the presence of younger humans because of the different scents they give off. The beasts were completely savage and did not have a shred of humanity in them.

Almost always in their attacks, the entire family was either completely slaughtered or brutally mauled to the point of near death while the young children were taken to the den. Sean had never personally seen any survivors in any of his investigations of the locations where War-Wolf attacks occurred but he had heard stories from other Illuminati operatives or natives that he encountered during his brief stays in the different countries. The stories from previous Illuminati agents usually described how they had found people that had managed to live through the wolves' initial attack only to die from their injuries later on in the hospitals. The captured children were taken back to the wolves' home where the pack would tear them apart and eat them in a disgusting and horrific feeding frenzy. The wolves only seemed to eat children under the age of seven and preferred to kill anything that was considered too old for them for sport.

Most of the packs he had encountered had consisted of only five members: three males and two females. The group that had been terrorizing Cape Town had been significantly larger having twelve adults: six males, six females and three cubs. The females, like most other animal species in nature, were noticeably larger than the males due to its duty of producing new offspring for the pack. However, the males were much more aggressive making them especially dangerous when in large numbers.

Carnage's chosen battle strategy had usually been to take out the male wolves first, since the females tended to either protect any offspring or defend their food source if any captured children were still alive when he arrived.

During one of his regular patrols of the city, he tried to locate a lone wolf to lead him to one of the packs. Instead he managed to save a young family, successfully driving away two male wolves that were attacking them. He had purposely not delivered any death blows to the wolves, despite the terrified family's frequent insistencies as they huddled together in a corner of the master bedroom. Carnage would have much rather preferred to listen to their pleas, and kill the wolves, making him two steps closer to finishing his mission. However, he was aware that is would have been a hollow victory. It made more sense to follow the wolves and kill as many as he could at once.

He managed to keep pace with the retreating wolves as he followed them back to their den located in a cave in the side of Table Mountain. This particular mountain towered over the Cape Peninsula where the city was situated. Once he had entered the cave that he had seen the wolves disappear into, he had been shocked to see the large number of individuals present. His past experiences with them allowed him to quickly identify the males from the females, even in the limited light the wolves' lairs often provided. He observed that the wolves that made up this pack were still juveniles, as they were still walking on four limbs. This was a small advantage as it meant that they weren't at their full physical strength level.

He quickly crouched behind a natural stone formation to allow his symbiote to extend several string thin pseudopods to collecting visual information. He knew he had a few seconds at best before the enhanced sense of smell of the wolves would detect his presence inside their cave.

The symbiote told him that there were seven children that had been captured by the pack of wolves. Carnage gritted his black teeth as that horrible reality washed over him. He had managed to save one family but that meant that several others had been needlessly slaughtered. What troubled him most was that in every recorded encounter, and his own first-hand experiences, the males were the ones that did the killing and capturing and left the females to guard the cubs and the pack's hideaway.

That meant the other four males had been successful in their murderous missions. That accounted for four of the children but where had the other three come from? War Wolves never left children alive for anything longer than a few hours as the concepts of storing food or having 'left-overs' were completely absent to them.

That left only one other explanation: the females were beginning to hunt as well. That marked a very disturbing turn in their overall behaviour and evolution. It now meant that even more children would be in danger if the wolves were allowed to spread beyond the boundaries of Cape Town. He could not, and would not, allow that to happen. He had to stop them here and now.

It was at that point that a loud howl had echoed off the cold stone walls of the cave. Carnage took a deep breath and tensed his body muscles underneath his symbiotic skin. His hands morphed into a sharp scythe and wide square shield. His symbiote spoke to him telepathically to inform him of what he already knew.

_Here we go again_.

He jumped up to a standing position and revealed his location to the wolves. They swung their bodies around and lowered themselves low to the ground. Their knees and elbows bent like coiled springs, ready to launch themselves forward at the intruder invading their home. Thick foul scented drool dripped from their long snouts as spine chilling growls escape through clenched teeth. This was the youngsters' usual battle position. When they reached full maturity, they attacked much like a bear, swiping with their front paws while trying to bite down on their prey's throat while standing up on hind legs.

In a flash of movement the battle had begun. One of the males launched itself forward and aimed its open maw at Carnage's throat. He had managed to bat the beast away with his shield-shaped hand, sending the creature hard into one of the walls of the cave. The other male wolves followed, lurching forward while snapping their teeth at Carnage's legs, swiping the air with their front claws.

In no time, the six males had encircled Carnage forcing him to take a few steps back to maintain a safe distance from them. The symbiote screamed inside his mind that he was very close to being pinned up against one of the stone walls. Carnage had only one option. He planted one foot behind him and bent both his knees as he got into a lunge position. He waited for the wolves to edge a bit closer to him as his mind replayed the offensive gamble he was about to put into motion.

He pushed forward and ran towards the wolves. They lunged forward as well with their sharp teeth in an attack leap to meet him head on. Carnage swung his scythe bladed hand in a downward arch followed by a horizontal slash. This cut a deep wound across the back of one wolf before slicing the belly of another in mid-jump.

Thick yellow blood splashed across Carnage's body as the eviscerated wolf's body was knocked aside as he finished his charge. He spun around on his heels to re-engage the rest of the unholy creatures. The two wounded wolves hung back behind the other four. War-Wolves, like most demon species, were gifted with accelerated healing abilities. From his past experiences, Carnage knew that in only a matter of minutes the injuries he had just inflicted would account for nothing. He had to start delivering fatal wounds and get the odds back in his favour, or he was going to be overcome by their numbers very quickly.

The smell of the blood from their injured pack members seemed to increase survival instincts. They launched forward again but this time in delayed intervals, two wolves followed by the other two and then the still recovering injured ones.

Carnage aimed his bladed hand at one of the incoming wolves' throat in an attempt to separate the snarling head from its shoulders. War-Wolves may look like the modern version of a werewolf but thankfully did not require the traditional and very specific ways of being killed. Decapitation or burning alive had been the ways Carnage had preferred to use in the past, but he had many other options.

Carnage's arm blade successfully connected with the lead wolf's jugular vein and cut deep into the flesh as the forward momentum of its jump pushed it across the full length of the blade's sharp edge. The wolf continued past Carnage but it was clear that the wolf's head was barely attached to its body. It landed on the ground and collapsed into a heap as a yellow puddle of liquid slowly oozed out from underneath it. Carnage knew that it would be out for a while but would eventually heal if left alive long enough.

His hand shield shrunk back into its normal humanoid form before quickly transforming into a long broad sword. Extending his arms out to the sides he began to spin around in a wild and deadly circle. He bent and straightened his knees which lowered and raised the cutting edges of his blades as they spun with him. The wolves did not back up from him during the attack as their physical hunger and basic animal instincts kept them on the offensive. The symbiotic blades cut into their flesh, sliced through muscle, ligaments, and tendons. A few of their limbs were cleaved off which made some of the wolves unable to stand.

Without fully stopping, Carnage changed from spinning to hacking and thrusting with pointed lances erupting from the symbiotic skin of his chest and back into the bodies of the wounded wolves around him. He finished off the nearly decapitated wolf with a powerful downward swipe from his sword limb easily cutting through the thin piece of muscle keeping its head attached. He turned around and continued on as he sliced through another two wolves' throats before being knocked forward to the ground by a tackle from another wolf.

He felt the claws of its paws pierce his red alien skin as it bore its full body weight down on him. Carnage turned his head as far as he could and looked up at his attacker. He could see its snarling mouth inches from the side of his head, and felt the foul smelling salvia drip down onto his back and the rocky ground by his shoulder. His look of surprise at the sudden attack quickly changed to one of complete shock. The symbiote screamed inside his brain that the wolf on him was not a male but actually a female. The female wolves had never attacked in an offensive manner before. They only turned aggressive when in defense of their food or cubs. This confirmed to him that the wolves were indeed evolving and had become an even more dangerous threat to the Earth's people than ever before.

Without any more hesitation he mentally willed a large organic spike to appear out of the middle of his back. He sent the spear upwards pierced the tough skin of the female wolf. The spike continued its way through the demon's body until it broke through at the top of its back. The upward momentum of the spike caused the wolf to be lifted off of Carnage which effectively impaled it on the spike's shaft. The wolf struggled in vain as it tried to wiggle and shake itself free.

Carnage was deaf to its howls of pain as the memories of its species' many atrocities were firmly engraved into his brain. Despite his complete lack of sympathy for the beast, he decided to give it a single act of compassion. He rolled on to his back as the symbiotic spike migrated with his movement so that it was now sprouting from his chest. He then morphed his left hand into a pair of long-bladed scissors. He thrusted his arm upwards and placed the thrashing throat of the wolf between the twin pieces of sharp organic matter. In an instant, it was over as the blades came together and the wolf's head bounced to the ground a few inches to the right of Carnage's face. Several splashes of yellow arterial blood rained down on him as the wolf's heart continued to beat.

He retracted the spike back into his chest causing the headless corpse to fall down upon him. He pushed it off and stood up. He risked a second to pause and look around at his current situation so he could take in the remaining numbers of the pack. So far he had killed three of the male wolves and one female which meant he still had another eight wolves to go. However the females were now taking battle positions beside the remaining males while the cubs remained behind them against the far wall of the cave.

This made the odds even worse than when he had started. The new found aggressiveness of the females effectively made it eight against one. Carnage had successfully taken on three wolves at the same time in previous battles but never eight and certainly not mostly females. This was uncharted territory for him and he was unsure if his usual battle strategies would work against the presumably different attack patterns of the female wolves.

Inside his brain, the symbiote began to plead to let it take total control of their shared body. It was something that Sean had done only a couple of times before, and only in extreme circumstances. To allow the symbiote to have full control of his body and, in a sense, shut his brain down like a mental blackout was a very dangerous gamble. It was true that the symbiote was a sentient being and was capable of its own independent thoughts, but it was still an animal though a highly evolved and intelligent one. It was those animalistic instincts that caused the greatest concern for Sean. If the symbiote acted purely on its primordial tendencies it could make mistakes that could be avoided through the higher cognitive thinking that humans possessed. It was this mixture of animalistic instinct and cognitive thinking that had made them such a success warrior and defender of Earth. To take away one of those key components meant taking a severe risk that could perhaps lead to their mutual death.

On top of all of this, the wolves had numbers on their side. Sean had seen more than enough documentaries and nature shows about packs of wild animals and dinosaurs taking down much larger or better protected prey just by using multiple bodies as a distraction, and the hit-and-run strategy to tire out their intended target. He knew that he had to remain standing at all costs. He had been lucky just now that the other wolves had not attacked while he was dealing with the female wolf. If the wolves were successful in getting him to his knees or back again he was sure it would be over this time.

Carnage took in a deep breath and filled his lungs with oxygen that reeked of the deaths of numerous innocent people. He gritted his black needle-like teeth as he realized that he had no choice now. He had to end this quickly or the wolves' plague would spread beyond this cave. If he failed to stop them here the wolves would eventually reach Japan. That meant that they would face the Sailor Soldiers. He was sure that they would be able to handle them, but the countless deaths that would occur before reaching them would be totally unacceptable.

_Please Sean! I can do this. Please trust me. Let me have control of our body so I can destroy these monsters once and for all!_

_Alright! We don't have any more options so go ahead but remember, do not harm any of the children in any of your attacks!_

_Ok. _

Carnage stood straighter and put his arms down at his sides before tilting his head slightly upwards. His large white eyes closed and his breathing slowed down. He felt his brain activity slowing down as if his body was rapidly giving in to the effects of physical exhaustion. The last clear sound his brain registered before going dark was the scrapping of the wolves' claws on the stone floor of the cave as they charged at him.

An indescribable feeling of intense pain rocked his eyes open. He was unsure how much time had passed since he had allowed the symbiote to take their body completely over. Had it been minutes or only seconds? He could not be sure. The burning sensation of pain that he was feeling flared up again immediately focusing his mind on the situation. It took him a few more seconds to realize what was going on.

One of the female wolves had managed to leap onto his back. Its front limbs and paws were draped over the front of his shoulders and its claws were deeply imbedded into the flesh of his chest. The sharp barbs of the claws had managed to pierce the symbiotic skin and make their way into the underlying muscle and tissue that made up his human body. The wolf's back legs were still firmly on the ground, giving some leverage to pull Carnage backwards. Its jaws and teeth were biting down hard on his neck as they tried to desperately get at his carotid artery. So far the teeth hadn't be able to connect to it, but every second that passed as they continued to snap and bite at any piece of him that they could get at was only getting them closer to being able to strike the fatal blow.

_Get it off… us_.

Carnage didn't stop to acknowledge that he had heard his partner's desperate plea. Since the wolf was dangerously close to his head a wild swipe or swing from a tendril might cause unnecessary injury to him. Carnage rapidly began to prepare himself for the intense pain he knew was coming next.

He reached up and back with both of his arms and felt his shoulder muscles begin to rip and tear. The jagged edges of the wolf's teeth and claws tore through the dense muscle tissue as his arms rotated backwards. He grabbed the wolf by the scruff of its neck as he elongated his fingers so they wrapped tightly around it like a noose.

He took a quick breath in and pulled the wolf forward using all of his remaining physical strength. The wolf, like any other predatory animals, would not let go easily. It was going to wait until its prey became too weak from blood loss or finally suffocated allowing it to finish its prey without further resistance.

Underneath the symbiotic skin, Carnage could feel his own blood flowing from the wounds in his upper chest. He knew that he was going to start succumbing to the physical effects of exsanguination in a matter of minutes. He shot a symbiotic dart from his mid-back into the wolf's body. It was not meant to be a fatal blow but was successful in its real purpose. The sudden shot of pain caused the wolf to yelp. Its jaws temporarily loosened their grip on him. Carnage used the momentary distraction to pull the wolf forward again until he managed to finally pry it off of his back. He dangled it in front him. The wolf's six foot long body made it impossible to completely hold it away from his body. Its hind legs still draped over Carnage's shoulders and were kicking and scratching with its claws as it tried to physically right itself. The wolf snapped its jaws and tried to curl its upper body upwards to get at the arms holding it in this awkward position. Carnage wasted no more time as a sharp blade erupted from his abdomen and, with a quick swipe, ended the wolf's struggle.

He dropped the wolf's body and surveyed the area around him. It turned out that had been the last of the War-Wolves. The other eleven bodies of the pack were scattered around the open space of the cave. The bodies of the three wolf cubs lay eviscerated where he had last remembered seeing them. The captured children had taken refuge behind the stone wall formation, remaining unharmed.

He dropped to his knees as he allowed himself to finally relax, grateful the danger was now over. He felt the wounds in his chest and neck as they flared up with each breath and beat of his heart. It would take his symbiote hours to repair the damage caused by the battle, but he had managed to survive and rescue the children. He could endure a few hours of intense pain for such a result. A quick inspection of his neck with his right hand let him know just how close he had come to actually having his throat ripped out.

The quiet whimpering of the children brought his attention back to them. He lifted his head and looked at them. When he saw the little pairs of eyes looking over at him he slowly gestured with his hand that he was one of the good guys, and not one of the monsters that had kidnapped them. It had understandably taken them a few minutes to realize that he was indeed their saviour. After a couple of minutes, they slowly approached him. Their small innocent faces and eyes were stained red from tears of terror. He gently took two of the children's hands, and made sure the other children were holding hands with each other, before escorting them back to the city.

It took over two hours to get back within the city's limits, as the children needed frequent breaks, and he needed to safely get them down the steep cliff side of Table Mountain. As they continued on towards the city, Carnage had chosen not to revert back to his human persona. He knew that he still hadn't yet fully healed from the last wolf's brutal attack. He wasn't sure of the full extent of the physical damage, but he did not want to further traumatize the children with the potentially gruesome injury. Once they finally reached the outskirts of Cape Town, they walked through the quiet streets together in silence until they reached the city's main police station.

When they arrived at the precinct, he sent the children inside and told them to inform the officers that they had been taken against their will and later released into the wilderness outside the city limits. He had no doubt that the noise of the wolf attacks had drawn their neighbour's attention. It was highly probable that the police could more than likely be out looking for the missing children, since they would not be among the dead of their families.

He knew that the police, and other civil servants, would not believe the children's story about the monstrous wolves. It would only result in wasted time and taxpayer's money as they tried to find the human perpetrators when there weren't any. However, he didn't have a choice. Revealing the bodies of the wolves would only raise unwanted questions about things that were better off remaining unknown to the general public. The other risk was that it could lead to the authorities learning about his involvement, and make him the central focus of all the resulting public attention and investigations. Having the children returned to any surviving family members anonymously was the best decision.

Once the children had gotten safely inside the precinct he had reverted back to his human persona. The wounds on his chest had mostly healed during their long trek from the wolves' lair, but his neck was still visibly scratched and mauled. He left a bit of symbiotic skin in a camouflaged state to match the colour of his skin to completely hide the wound at the base of his neck. He took a deep breath and entered the station with the intention to add some credibility to the children's stories about being found wandering in the forest after being released by their kidnappers. He also wanted to make sure that they were properly taken care of by the police officials.

The children were bright and quickly realized who the newly arrived man standing up for them really was. The police seemed to believe their collective story that he had been a hiker that had stumbled upon them and proceeded to escort them safely to the police station. When the police officers weren't looking, Sean caught a few of them looking up at him with wide smiles and eyes that told him that they knew exactly who he was. He returned every smile they gave with one of his own. After a couple of hours of collecting their statements and personal information the police chief informed Sean that the children were going to remain at the station until family members could be reached, or the local Children's Aid Services appointed each of them a guardian.

Sean visited the children several times over the following days. Once the children had been released into the custody of their court appointed guardians they privately confronted him during his last visit. They told them that they wanted to take a picture of him in his 'other' form so they would never forget the person that had saved them.

He had been hesitant, but ultimately agreed if they allowed him to keep his civilian identity a secret from their guardians. They promised to never reveal it to anyone else. The children concocted a story claiming the actual person that had saved them was coming by to see them, and that the young man that had been visiting him was really this person's best friend. Sean was aware that their story was flimsy and carried a large degree of risk on his part. However, the guardians seemed to buy the story. They were simply grateful to this person for saving the children's lives and wanted to thank him in person.

They arranged to all meet on a private beach a few miles away from downtown Cape Town. The parental guardians had been more than a little surprised and even scared to see the unexpected sight of their charges' rescuer. Their hesitations and nervousness softened when they saw how happy and excited the children were to see him. When they saw the tender hugs the red creature gave each of them, and how careful he was around them, they saw there was nothing to fear.

The kids gathered around him and hugged him tightly with their little arms. Some of even jumped up onto his back with raucous laughter. They did not seem fazed at all by the red alien skin moving on its own against their bodies. The parental guardians gathered around the cute mess of tiny bodies and wiggling organic crimson strands as a Polaroid camera with was set up. It flashed three times as it took their group shots.

"You are losing your edge, my dear boy!"

Sean shook his head and blinked as he snapped out of the memories of his latest battle. He turned his head to look at the man sitting across the table to his left. Like himself, the newcomer had positioned his chair so that his body was facing towards the water. It was still very early in the morning, but a hot, sticky level of humidity hung in the air. Sean's unexpected guest did not seem to notice the rising heat, he was dressed in an expensive looking grey suit with shiny black dress shoes. On the table beside the man was a black bowler hat. His outfit was clearly not made for the climate of South Africa, but Sean would not expect anything less from his this particular individual. Sean's eyes narrowed a little as he prepared himself for what he knew was coming. His time in South Africa had finally come to an end.

"I never would have been able to get this close to you without you knowing long in advance."

"Perhaps I allowed you to this time, because I know you are no threat to me Alistair."

"No need to be rude my boy! Especially not when I have come to give you praise for your most recent victory in the name of the people of Earth."

"I am not your boy Alistair and it's not a victory yet. We just won another battle. That is all."

"Ohhhh… but that is where you are wrong. You have finally done it! You have completed your mission at long last."

Sean turned to give Alistair an intense stare, his eyes asking if what he said was indeed true. He did not trust Alistair for a second, recalling how he had misled him into accepting the mission that had taken almost two years to complete. He leaned his head forward towards Alistair as a signal to him that he was in no mood for any of his games.

"You mean?"

"There have been no more reports of children and families being killed with the War-Wolf's signatures. It has been declared by the Inner Council of the Illuminati that the species known as the War-Wolf has been rendered completely extinct!"

Alistair turned to look at Sean with a delighted smile stretched across his middle-aged face. His left index finger and thumb rubbed the glass surface of the head of the black cane in his hand. In his right he held a cup of earl grey tea. He took a small sip of the hot liquid to prolong the special moment between them. After what seemed like an eternity, he put the cup back down onto the saucer on the table and turned his head again to look back at Sean.

"You have completed all the objectives outlined in your initial assignment's description. As per what was promised to you when you undertook this mission you are now off the international operative list and permanently assigned to the protection and defense of the country of Japan. Congratulations Sean on a job well done!"

Alistair's words took a few seconds to fully sink. Sean had been waiting for this day for so long now that he had no idea how to react. His mind became a fury of thoughts and emotions. He would finally being able to see Makoto and his friends again. There was a sense of relief, he would no longer have to travel and would only have the responsibly of Japan to think about. Alistair must have sensed the whirlwind that Sean's mind was experiencing, because his next series of comments snapped his brain back into focus.

"The Inner Council has requested that you report back to London for the final de-briefing and the official and formal reassignment of your job title and position. There is a private plane waiting for you at Cape Town International Airport. Terminal 92. The gate attendee will need you to say the password: Monkey, before he allows you to board the airplane."

Sean was still not completely convinced that Alistair was being truthful. His distrust for the man was still strong despite the good news. He trusted the Illuminati Council even less, since their motives were not always clear when it came to Earth's overall protection. On more than one occasion, he had gone against their orders to ensure that civilian casualties were either kept at zero or significantly reduced. Those past incidents had made him very cautious about what was going to happen when he stood before the Inner Council in London when he arrived. He couldn't ignore the sinking feeling inside. There was one last string they were going to pull to keep him firmly in their grasp a little while longer.

"You better get going. If you hurry, you can make it back to Tokyo before your latest gifts to the sailors arrive. I am sure you will want to be there when Minako gets her designer bag, Usagi opens her slip-on shoes, and Rei receives her expensive willow-weave gown!"

"How did you?" Sean decided against finishing his question.

He knew Alistair had been watching him for some time, and had made it his business to know everything that the operatives under his watch did. It wouldn't have been that hard to see the pattern of buying unusual gifts from stores that catered to the female population and then directly to the local postal office. He knew for certain that Alistair had someone watching the girls back in Japan and informing him the received the packages.

Alistair stood from his chair and finished his cup of tea with a slight backwards jerk of the head. He gently placed the cup back on its saucer before using his hands to smooth out the wrinkles in his expensive suit. When he was satisfied that his physical appearance was as close to immaculate as he was going to get, given his current situation, he turned to regard Sean one last time. A pleasant-looking smile appeared on his face as he extended his hand in a gesture that signaled that he wanted Sean to shake it.

"It has been a pleasure working with you, Carnage. I hope that we don't have to see each other again after today."

Sean stood up and firmly grasped Alistair's hand. Despite the age difference between them the elder of the two men was able to put some significant strength into his grip. They pumped their joined hands three times before releasing, eyes never breaking contact.

"I hope so too!"

With the hand shake broken, Alistair turned around and began to stroll down the street, lightly tapping the bottom of his cane against the surface of the concrete sidewalk. His body displayed some of the swagger that one would come to expect from someone that thought supremely high of themselves. It always irritated Sean to some degree whenever he saw someone like Alistair walking in that fashion. He was the one almost getting killed every single time while people like him remained safe in their secure locations.

Sean reached down and quickly finished his cup of tea that was rapidly losing its warmth. Putting the cup down, he looked back in the direction where Alistair had been heading in. He was no longer in sight. He smirked, as the last encounter with Alistair firmly took root inside his memory bank. It felt understandably and pleasantly different than his previous encounters with the man. He decided it was merely because this was the final stage of his long awaited journey back to his adoptive home in Japan.

He turned to look out upon the ocean water and white sandy beach one last time. The sun was higher now making the shadows from the tall skyscraper buildings behind him smaller and narrower. The sparkling water was now becoming almost blinding as the sunlight intensely radiated off the water's surface. Soon he turned and headed down the alley next to the café and in the direction of the airport.

As Sean left the café and began to make his way to the private jet anxiously awaiting his arrival, Alistair was in extreme peril in another alley located a few blocks from the café. He had been snatched by a pair of impossibly fast hands in those brief moments when Sean had turned his attention away from his departing figure. A hand clad in a leather like material had immediately covered his mouth to prevent him from vocalizing any sort of verbal protest.

Alistair's eyes stared squarely at the monster that held him up against one of the walls of the alley. His assailant was clad in black body armour and mask, giving it the appearance of a ninja. It had long straight grey hair that fell far below its shoulders with a thick black headband that ran underneath its head. Its hands and feet were wrapped in a material that looked like leather tensor bandages although he suspected that it was something far more sinister. Across its back, a large sword hung in a brown scabbard. Its physical appearance suggested that this monster was attempting to pass itself as a humanoid female and was succeeding in that goal. The creature leaned in close to Alistair's face. A foul smell broke through the fabric covering its mouth.

"Listen to me human, you will tell me everything your organization knows. Right now!" It hissed.

Alistair tried to maintain his calm composure and confidence. As a member of the Illuminati organization, he had been extensively trained to endure incredible amounts of physical pain and resist any mental illusion cast on him in order to prevent the organization's vast secrets from falling into enemy's hands. He was more than prepared to die to ensure that this monster and the leaders it worked for would never gain such valuable information.

"You are an agent of the Dark Kingdom, aren't you? You can tell your Queen that she will never rule Earth while the Illuminati are around!"

"You pitiful flesh bag! We no longer have a Queen. We have someone much greater and more suited to lead our armies. He will lead us to absolute victory over your weak race."

"If you are so confident in your organization's second go at world domination, why do you need me then?" Alistair made sure to emphasize the word 'second' and add a clear tone of mocking sarcasm when he spoke. He was hoping that the monster's pride would overcome its loyalty to its master and it would lash out in anger killing him and foil its primary mission.

The monster's grip tightened around Alistair's neck and collapsed his airway enough that he could feel the beginning effects of asphyxiation set in. His face began to turn blue, and he began to feel lightheaded as his brain struggled to maintain its normal cognitive functions. He silently encouraged the monster to keep squeezing for a couple more minutes until his brain finally died from the lack of oxygen and blood.

The monster suddenly relaxed its grip around his neck. Alistair coughed repeatedly as fresh air once again flooded his lungs. The monster retained its firm hold on him.

"Nice try meat sac! I applaud your efforts but it was all for not. I will not disappoint my master by failing to get the information that he wants from you. I can tell now that I will need to use extreme measures."

The monster flipped Alistair around so that his chest was pressed tightly against the wall. His right cheek was pressed flat and firmly against the stone bricks of the alley. The monster lifted its free hand and extended the index finger. After a second the fingernail on the end of the finger elongated into a nasty looking claw. It re-braced its other arm and body firmly against Alistair's to keep him completely under its control.

In one quick motion the monster thrust the sharp claw into the back of Alistair's neck. A yelp of pain was the only thing he could muster before the monster snapped its other hand back over his mouth. Alistair's mind became a frenzy of emotions and thoughts. He could still feel his arms and legs so that told him that the claw had missed his spinal cord. He could also still feel the monster's claw inside his neck but could do absolutely nothing about it. He managed to remember enough of human anatomy from his school days to know that it wouldn't take much for the sharp edge of the claw to sever his spinal cord and render him completely paralyzed. This made him stop his resistance and remain as still as he physically could.

Before he could form any more thoughts, a burning white hot sensation spread quickly throughout his body. The resulting pain was both excruciating and indescribable as he felt it throughout his entire body. His body convulsed and twitched as it reacted to the unknown stimulus, but the monster managed to keep him firmly against the wall. He tried to scream out but was stopped when the monster tightened its grip over his mouth. He felt his brain swell inside his skull as the cause of his discomfort played havoc.

"You feel that flesh-bag? That is the feeling of intense bio-electricity being pumped directly into your nervous system. I can assure you that you have never felt pain like this ever before."

Alistair knew that what the monster had said was true. In his training to become an senior operative for the Illuminati Council, he had been subjected to various types of stress and physical endurance tests meant to toughen him up both physical and mentally. The ultimate goal was for him to be able to resist many different kinds of torture in the event that he should ever be captured by an enemy. The monster's mention of bio-electricity made him flash back to the electrical shock tests that he had been put through. He had been repeatedly shocked by cattle prods, live wires, and electrical generators of various voltages. However, they were nothing compared to what this monster was currently doing to him.

"Now, will you tell me what I want to know?"

"Go … to hell … you … inhuman creature!"

"As you wish."

For the next hour, Alistair was subjected to repeated surges of bio-electricity as the monster channeled the current from its extended finger into his brain stem. The electricity then spread along his nerves to every part of his body. After half an hour, Alistair could not stand upright and his arms and legs were completely numb as the nerves were internally burned away from the consistent barrages of raw organic power. After forty-five minutes, his breathing became more laboured as his body's natural rhythm became severely interrupted due to damage to the nerves that regulated his lungs.

When the sixty minute mark occurred, he felt his heartbeat become irregular and start to seize up. He knew that if he continued to resist he would not simply pass out but die. The fear of his own impending death rapidly filled him and temporarily overrode the pain that raked the insides of his body. He felt the monster twitch its finger, meaning another electrical surge was about to come. The terror that washed over him as his damaged brain struggled to comprehend this finally caused him to mentally break.

"Alright. No more. You win!"

"Finally, a smart move. It is about time! Tell me everything that your organization currently has on the Dark Kingdom and do not skip anything!"

For several minutes, Alistair gave the monster all the information he knew about the Dark Kingdom. On occasion, he would hesitate as his sense of loyalty to the Council tried to re-establish control. The monster would send a mini-electrical wave into his body to act as a reminder that he was still at its mercy.

Alistair told the monster all about the surveillance the Council had been conducting on objects or monsters that were known to be associated with the Dark Kingdom as well the irrefutable evidence they had gathered that proved the Dark Kingdom's involvement in various world events over the last decade and a half. His last bundle of information gave the monster very specific details such as people's names, locations, and the Council's overall plans to counter-act the Dark Kingdom's suspected upcoming operations.

When he had finally finished devolving everything he knew, he turned his head as far to the side as he could so that he could see the monster. He didn't care if he became paralyzed by his action as the shame he now felt for his betrayal and weakness began to overtake him. From what he could see, the monster seemed to be studying his body language as if deciding whether he had in fact given all the information that he possessed about the Dark Kingdom. The claw which had been the source of his recent misery remained lodged deep inside the back of his neck. After what seemed like an eternity, the monster leaned in so that its masked covered mouth was next to his left ear.

"Thank you human! You have been most helpful!"

The monster leaned back and stood upright as it slowly pulled the claw from Alistair's body. As the last bit of it exited the back of his neck Alistair felt sharp pain, and relief that it was out of his neck at last. He felt the monster let go of him completely and allow him to finally separate from the wall of the alley. He did not immediately turn around as the shame and embarrassment continued to consume him. As the pain inside him began to slowly dissipate the realization of what had happened started to become crystal clear.

_What had he done? How could he face the Council now?_ he thought.

Suddenly a strange sound behind him interrupted his downward spiral into depression. It sounded like metal scrapping against another surface. He quickly turned around to see the monster finish pulling its sword from the scabbard hanging across its back. As his eyes widened with terror, as the sight fully registered, the monster swung the blade in a graceful but deadly downward arch that cut clean through his neck.

Alistair's head remained in place although it was no longer attached to his body. A thin line of blood oozed out from the wound and spilled down onto his expensive jacket and white dress shirt. A second later, he dropped to his knees as his body quickly began to shut down. The jolt of his knees hitting the ground knocked his head from the rest of his body. It bounced on the ground a few times, landing a few feet away before coming to a rest on its side. His eyes were open wide with surprise and his frozen gaze stared off at the monster. The monster sheathed its sword and proceeded to disappear into the warm morning air.


	5. A Time for Action

Chapter 4: A Time for Action

"So, our enemies know of our existence and what we have done in the past?"

"Yes Master! They have evidence that you instigated the attacks on America by assisting the Al-Qaeda group. They also have photographs of several of our minions in various locations around the world where we planted falsified documents to bring about the Afghan and Iraqi wars, as well as the uprisings in Libya and the Middle Eastern countries. Lastly, their team of psychics and mystics have sensed the magical influences in the natural occurrences of the Indonesia tsunami and Hurricane Kat—"

"Enough!"

The monster dropped its head so that its gaze was directed to the floor, before it lowered itself down to one knee, in a gesture of complete obedience to its master's command. It remained silent as it let him ponder on the information it had just given regarding its interrogation of the human, Alistair.

The General broke his gaze with the kneeling monster and turned around to face a flashing bank of television monitors behind him. Several different screens displayed a variety of news agencies from around the world as they detailed the latest in current events. His hands were wrapped backwards around him and rested lightly against his lower back. His white gloved fingers opened and closed repeatedly as he mulled over what his response to this new information should be.

He turned back around to face the monster that still grovelling on the floor behind him. "Tell me Ninjana, as my trusted lieutenant, what would you propose we do?"

Ninjana lifted her head and looked up at her master. Though most of her face was covered by her mask and headband, it was clear from the look in her black eyes that she was pondering different strategies. She was taking her time as she wanted to show her master the proper respect for asking for her advice and counsel.

"We should eliminate the spies that are currently watching our minions. It would allow our soldiers to once again move freely without the risk of being detected again. We should also break into their headquarters and destroy all the information they have on us to blind the human leaders. This would lessen the threat they pose to us."

The General looked down at Ninjana, his face devoid of expression or emotion. It was his turn to consider the suggestions from his subordinate. He prided himself on not being foolish enough to ignore the counsel of trusted members of his army, unlike the Dark Kingdom's former leader: Queen Beryl.

He had been present in the Queen's throne room when Jadeite returned from a battle with the Sailor Soldiers. He had managed to find out their true identities and made an attempt to tell Beryl. She had been too blinded by her rage at his most recent failure to listen. She then imprisoned him in a block of crystal for all eternity before he could tell her that important information. That had proven to be one of a series of grave tactical errors on Beryl's part that had eventually led to her downfall. He smirked a little as the image of his former queen flashed in his mind. He was supremely confident that he would be able to do what she could not.

"I agree with your recommendations Ninjana. Alert our soldiers to hunt down and kill every identified Illuminati operative that Alistair gave you, immediately. After you have done that, gather your best warriors and go to their main base in London. Steal every bit of intelligence information they have on the Dark Kingdom. However, our enemies still know enough about us personally to still be dangerous, and their political influences could make the future phases of our plan very difficult. Therefore, once you have collected all the information on our Kingdom, kill everyone you can."

"Yes Master. It will be done at once."

Ninjana placed her right hand flat over the left part of her chest plate as she lowered her torso into a respective bow. She quickly straightened and turned to leave the room and begin the preparations needed to carry out her master's orders. She took about three steps before she heard her master's voice say her name again. She quickly spun on her heels to properly listen to him.

"Ninjana! Once you have eliminated the Council, eliminate the soldiers that were being watched by them. Their carelessness put us in this situation, and their punishments must serve as a warning to the rest. Such negligent mistakes will not be tolerated by me."

Ninjana nodded her head to show that she understood her master's last order. She turned back around and continued out of the throne room, disappearing in a series of simmering ripples in the dim light of the large cavern. The General turned back to the bank of television screens with his lieutenant's quick departure. He quietly thought to himself as he stood alone in the gloomy underground space of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

_So far everything is proceeding according to plan. The minor annoyance of the Illuminati Council would be dealt with in short order. More importantly, the Sailor Soldiers are still completely unaware of what is going on which is very fortunate for me. We are not ready to reveal ourselves to them just yet. They have more than enough power to prevent our long awaited plans from coming to fruition! _

Over several hours, hundreds of people, both men and women, in dozens of countries across the world began to disappear at an alarming rate. It would be days, in some case, before friends or family members would notice that the person, or persons, were missing and alert the local police departments. The full truth about the disappearances and their connection to the numerous others taking place around the globe would never be fully known by the general public.

Ninjana and the other soldiers in the General's army were moving quickly to track down all the people that Alistair had identified and terminate them in a swift and brutal manner.

Each Illuminati Council member they managed to find was to be tortured until they gave Ninjana and the others the names and addresses of all the other members of the Council that they knew. After which, the Council member would be burned to a crisp in a magical blaze of fire or thrown into the sea for the fish and sharks to feast. This extension of the General's orders allowed the Dark Kingdom to increase the overall damage against the Council that they had initially set out to do. The main motive behind the initial order remained the same to remove the one human obstacle that would pose any sort of threat to the Dark Kingdom and its endeavours.

Ninjana had also given the soldiers explicit instructions that she would personally handle any Council members that were found to be located in the country of Japan. She understood her master's cautious nature when it came to that part of the world since it was where the Sailor Soldiers lived. They were the real threat to the Dark Kingdom and the longer they could keep them in the dark as to what was really going on the better it was for them and their overall plans.

She personally understood better than anyone else what the sailors were capable of. She had once been a servant of Kunzite, one of the other Generals who replaced her master as Grand General. She had been tasked to watch the Sailors when they began to fight among themselves in public. When Kunzite ordered her to engage Sailor Moon and the other sailors she had been destroyed when it was revealed that their in-fighting had really been a ruse meant to bait the Dark Kingdom into giving away their headquarters' location.

Her new master had managed to collect enough of her residual matter/energy once the Sailors had left before it had completely dissipated. He had then made a deal with a local scientist named Professor Tomoe, who successfully cloned her. In exchange for restoring her and another favour to be called upon at a later date the General was to assist him in building his Mugen School building. It would later be discovered that the building was actually meant to serve as the base for another evil organization called the Death Busters. The General was concerned at first that the Death Busters' plans would interfere with his own plot and had asked her to keep a close eye on them. As it turned out, the potential problem had fixed itself when the sailors defeated Professor Tomoe and his boss, Master Pharaoh 90. This completely dismantled the Death Busters group.

Ninjana still remembered those final moments when she felt her body crumble to moon dust after the final attack from Sailor Moon. She was extremely grateful to the General for giving her a second chance, and a chance to get her revenge on those pesky little girls. She was humbled when he had made her his second-in-command to fill the void left by his former lieutenant, Danburite, who was killed by Sailor V.

It was that gratitude and honour that made her take her job very seriously. She would not tolerate any mistakes by either herself or anyone under her command. So far, the whole operation was proceeding better than what had been originally expected. Her minions were giving her frequent reports on their individual movements and where their next targets were to be located. As of the last update their current body count totaled 245 eliminated Council members. She had personally taken out 37 individuals, eight of which had been located in Japan.

She and her raiding party would be making their way to London, England where the Illuminati's main base was located to carry out the last of the General's orders. She pulled her sword out of its scabbard as she sat down on a large relatively flat piece of stone. She rested the sword on the tops of her legs as she took a white cloth from a pocket inside her black tunic. She was a ninja, and her years of intense training had instilled inside her a sense of necessity to take care of her weapons. She began to wipe the dried blood from the steel as she recalled the frightened look of the blood's former owner as the blade passed through their body.

There were few things she enjoyed more than killing humans, and it was often difficult to hide her feeling of joy. As the Dark Kingdom's master assassin and deputy leader, she didn't have the luxury to publicly show her emotions as she felt it would cause her soldiers to lose respect.

Once satisfied that sword was clean enough to strike fear in her next target she folded the cloth and returned it to the compartment inside her tunic. She then took out a piece of whetstone and ran the side of it up and down the cutting edge of her blade. She wanted her sword to be as sharp as possible to ensure a quick kill when her next victim was identified.

She wanted nothing more than to run her sword through each of the sailors and put her face close to theirs to watch the life drain from their eyes. Although revenge was not one of the virtues her ninja training had promoted her inhuman nature and allegiance to the Dark Kingdom encouraged and embraced it. She hoped that fate would smile down on her and she would get the chance to kill some of the sailors when her master deemed it appropriate.

She continued to sharpen her blade with the whetstone, sliding the rock up and down the full length of the blade. This would ensure that the entire cutting edge was razor-sharp and well balanced as it sanded off any impurities on the cold steel. She smiled underneath her mask as she once again thought about the blade slicing through Sailor Moon's neck and her body slumping over to the side just like that pitiful fool, Alistair.

End of Chapter 4…


	6. Dark Kingdom scores first blood

Chapter 5: Dark Kingdom Scores First Blood

The airplane finally came to a full stop after a few bumpy jolts when its tires touched the asphalt of the runway. It had been a long flight, approximately twelve hours since it left its original city in South Africa. The privately marked jumbo jet was now awaiting the small taxiing vehicle to pull it up to the terminal tunnel so its passengers could disembark.

The plane looked like any other plane at Heathrow International Airport. However, the insides did not have the standard rows of seats that a regular passenger would have come to expect. Instead there were bench couches and a few reclining chairs firmly secured to the floor. Each of the pieces of furniture was covered in the finest and most expensive upholstery on the market.

In another section of the plane there was a dining area that contained a strong oak table with matching chairs. The chairs were on wheels to allow easy manoeuvrability but could be locked into place at the table when not in use. If one was to continue to further investigate the plane they would fine a large collection of very fine china and pricey silverware in the kitchen and a large library that contained various tomes of old books and strange looking artifacts.

The rear of the plane contained the sleeping quarters. A large king-sized bed with matching cherry wood end tables took up the majority of the space. The bed was covered in fine Egyptian silk sheets that were among the most expensive in the world. That was the overall theme for the design of the plane's interior: to be the most expensive luxury private jet in the world.

To someone like Sean it was not something that he was comfortable with. Being raised in a middle class family and then spending over a decade as a drifter travelling around the world and often staying in less than ideal conditions this plane made him somewhat angry at the wealth being wasted. He was sitting in one of the reclining chairs awaiting the flight attendant's signal to exit.

The sunshine poured through the small rectangular windows letting him know that it was sometime in the mid-morning. He closed his eyes and remembered the prepared agenda that he had been given for today. His meeting with the leaders of the Illuminati was to be at 11:30am and the digital clock on the wall of the plane indicated that it was 10:00am London time. He had met the Inner Council members only a few times before and it was not something that he was currently looking forward to. He felt the Inner Council was far too arrogant and had lost touch with the real world. They were more than happy to send dozens of operatives into battle with a faulty battle plan than listen to people with experience to formulate a better one.

More than once he had gotten into a power struggle with them over the orders they had given him. It was his lack of conformity to their authority that he was convinced was the sole reason why he had been given the near impossible missions that they had assigned to him. They were trying to either teach him a lesson or have him killed. Whichever reason it was they would still get what they wanted.

He let a deep sigh escape his mouth as he cracked his knuckles. One more time in front of them and then he would be free of their idiocy and be home with his adoptive family. He really hoped that he would be able to catch an evening flight out of London to Tokyo and be back in Japan by late tomorrow morning. It was autumn there which meant that Makoto and the rest would be in school until late afternoon. That would give him time to re-connect with the city and perhaps find Luna and Artemis. It would be nice to see them again and find out what the girls had been up to since he had last seen them.

He stood out of his chair to stretch his stiff muscles and heard the tell-tale cracking sounds of his joints as they loosened after being sedentary for a long period of time. He turned to look towards the cockpit and smiled as a thought occurred to him. He went to the door and knock on the carpet-lined door. From somewhere inside he heard the distinct sound of a seatbelt unlocking and the soft thuds of feet approaching the door. The door opened and a young man in his early thirties greeted him.

"Hello Sean. What can I do for you?

"Just thought I'd come to say goodbye to you Gordon."

He looked over Gordon's shoulder at the co-pilot who had his head turned around to look back at them. When he saw who had knocked at the door he undid his seatbelt as well and took a position against a control panel near them.

"And you too Steven. It's been a pleasure working with you both."

"So the rumours are true then? You are done with the Council?"

"I am afraid so. I am going to be a defender of Japan now which means I won't be subjected to your reckless flying anymore."

The three of them started to laugh as a flood of memories filled each of their minds. They had been flying together off and on for several years now. They had been the ones that had been transporting him across the world for the last year and a half as he eradicated the War-Wolf demon species. They had also been the ones to transport him both times to Japan when he was first assigned to end the threat of the Dark Kingdom and then again to battle the emergence of the demon prince, Gaap.

"I have to know, what is so important in Japan that you would be willing to give up this life of fun and adventure?

"You have a very strange definition of fun Gordon!"

Gordon chuckled. Steven remained silent as he continued to look at Sean. His eyes lit up when he saw Sean's subtle reaction to Gordon's question. He had seen his eyes visually twinkle when Japan was mentioned and its hidden importance to him. Steven had seen this reaction many times before. He lightly hit Gordon in the shoulder to get his full attention.

"I know why he's so anxious to get back to Japan. It's a girl, isn't it?"

Gordon looked first at Steven with a look of surprise before turning back to Sean. The look he gave him was clearly asking if it was true. The smile Sean gave them as his answer made both of their grins grow out to silly proportions. Gordon reached out and put his hand on Sean's shoulder.

"You sly dog! I was beginning to think you would never find a lady. Good for you my friend!"

"Excuse me."

The three men all turned to look at the young flight attendant standing a few feet behind Sean. She was young and looked to be around the age of twenty-five. The name tag she wore on her uniform jacket identified her as Tina. She had a slim body and long straight brown hair that hung down underneath her matching uniform hat. She reminded Sean a little of Makoto. He quickly remembered on why he was back in London.

"It is time to disembark now. If you would please follow me sir?"

Sean nodded his head at Tina before turning back to regard his friends. He outstretched his hand and shared a handshake and one armed hug with each of them.

"Good luck in Japan Sean. It won't be the same without you."

Sean nodded his head and smiled before turning to followed Tina to the door. She didn't say anything to him as he passed through the exterior door of the plane. He proceeded down the connecting tunnel to the boarding gate at the other end. High above him, the airport's intercom announced the arrival of his flight to the huge masses of people gathered around the immediate vicinity of the gate.

"Flight IC220 from Cape Town, South Africa is disembarking at Terminal One."

As Sean entered into the crowd of people that filled the little space of this section of the airport, he noticed his name written on a sign being held by a man in a nice suit and tie. It seemed cliché to him that this actually still occurred in real life but leave it to the Council bigwigs to draw more unnecessary attention to their agents than necessary. He quietly sighed as he started to make his way towards the man.

"I am Sean. You must be from the Council?"

The man didn't answer Sean's question. He instead lowered the sign and gestured with his hand to follow him. The man led him through the airport and out to a Lincoln town car that was parked in the short term parking area. He opened the back passenger door and turned to look back at Sean. His eyes were covered by thick black sunglasses. Sean wasn't sure if the man was actually looking at him.

"Right this way, if you please."

Sean got into the car and slide to the opposite side. He buckled himself in and put his elbow up on the door. He lazily began to stare out at the passing vehicles and people moving along as they walked by. The man took his position in the drivers' seat and started the engine. Sean briefly turned his head slightly to look at the driver. He debated whether it was worth the effort to try and start up a conversation just to pass the time. He quickly decided against it since knew from those experiences that this man would not be the type to converse openly.

When they finally arrived, the driver parked the car and promptly opened the door for him. Sean got out and craned his neck to the left and right as he looked around at the surrounding neighbourhood. The Council's headquarters was located in the Knightsbridge district in the western part of the city. This particular section of London was known to be a very expensive place to live or run a business. The neighbourhood and the people that could be seen walking along the sidewalk certainly supported that reality. They were all dressed in expensive brand name clothing or drove high-end vehicles. The buildings' architecture in Knightsbridge proudly displayed the historical character of its heritage. This was one of the oldest parts of London with some of the buildings dating back to the 1820's. The building that the Council was located in was the oldest structure in the entire borough.

It was a tall building that was several stories tall. The bricks were mostly an orange colour with sections of red and black stone to enhance the structure's overall appearance. The exterior windows were lined with ivory white trim and some had matching side panels that emphasized their look. Several of the windows were bay windows which bulged outwards from the main structure. This gave the building a bumpy or rolling wave look. The entire span of building covered an entire city block. Several large chimneys stretched upwards from the various peaks in roof giving it the appearance of horns.

Sean walked up to the front door where a male guard stood at his post. The guard held up his hand. In a gruff and proper voice he addressed Sean directly.

"What is your business here, sir?"

"I have an appointment at 11:30am with the Inner Council."

The guard lowered his hand and reached into his jacket where he produced a small notepad from the inner pocket. Without taking his eyes off Sean, he flipped open the pages. Sean waited patiently as the guard confirmed his appointment with the agenda he had been given. Finally, the guard lifted his head to address him once again.

"Very good sir, You may proceed."

The guard stepped aside and pulled the door open for Sean. As he stepped through the doorway he watched the guard through the corner of his eye. Although this was a place that was originally built to serve a vital purpose, it was not completely immune to corruption or other evil influences. Sean also lacked trust in the Inner Council and their intentions. He wouldn't have been surprised if they tried to imprison or eliminate him if they felt it suited their views for the world's protection.

He continued through the lobby and walked to the main reception desk. The receptionist was currently on the phone as he approached her. The name tag on the desk indicated that her name was Katharine. She looked to be in her late thirties and had long wavy orange-red hair. She was wearing bright red nail polish that matched her shade of lipstick. Upon closer inspection he could tell that she was wearing a thick layer of foundation giving her skin a porcelain look. He never fully understood why many members of the female population felt that they had to plaster that amount of makeup on their bodies on a daily basis. It was one of the things he loved about Makoto and the girls. They were naturally beautiful and didn't need to go to extreme lengths to enhance that.

Sean turned his body to the side and leaned against the desk on one elbow. As he waited for Katharine to finish her phone conversation he scanned the large lobby and the people there with him.

He had been here a few times in the past. The last time was about two years ago. He immediately noticed that they had renovated the space and bought more elaborate looking furniture in to increase the bold statement of the area and the overall impression the building gave. He stared at the real emeralds imbedded into the pillars spaced along the walls and shook his head in disbelief. He glanced down and took in the polished red granite floor covering the entire lobby.

He turned back to look at Katharine who was still on the phone and had not yet acknowledged his arrival. He cast his eyes down at her desk and studied the various items. The counter was very clean and organized. The surface of it looked regularly polished. There were a few large file folders in a small shelf located under the top of the desk barely visible from his angle. From his position he could see the label on the top file of the stack.

"Dark Kingdom," he whispered to himself.

That name seemed to make everything else around him fall away as a wave of memories flooded his brain. It had been over two years since he and the sailors crushed the Dark Kingdom and destroyed their Queens Beryl and Metalia. He thought again about that fateful night when the Kingdom finally fell.

It was both the best and worst night of his life. His love, Makoto, had been killed as she tried to assault the main base, and numerous innocent people had been slaughtered when the Kingdom launched an all-out assault on Tokyo. But the sailors had managed to defeat their ancient enemy and the power of the Imperium Silver Crystal had brought Makoto and the other fallen soldiers back to life.

The sound of the phone being returned to its cradle abruptly knocked him out of his unexpected trip down memory lane. He blinked his eyes rapidly for a few seconds before turning his head to look at Katharine. She was staring up at him, cold and unfriendly. Sean was unsure if that was because she simply didn't like her job or, like many other members of the Council, she had a superiority complex about her current position and role in the world.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, I have an appointment with the Inner Council at 11:30am."

"I am sorry. The Inner Council members are in an emergency meeting right now and cannot be disturbed. If you would like, you may wait in the library until they are ready for you."

Sean nodded his head and lightly pushed away from the desk with his hands. He walked around it and proceeded to the library located to the left of the front reception. He grabbed the long white horizontal handles and pushed down on them to open the doors. The look and feel of the handles made Sean wonder if they were made of ivory. As he stepped inside, he silently prayed that the Council had not killed an elephant just so they could have these unnecessarily elaborate doorknobs. The sight that welcomed him when he was fully inside caused him to stop in his tracks as a small gasp escaped his lips.

The Illuminati Council's library was situated inside an enormous room adorned with large and breathing taking chandeliers providing golden light. Beautiful and elaborate white and gold marble etchings were strategically placed along the exterior walls. Everywhere he looked he saw old looking antiques: globes in wooden frames, and old nautical maps that increased the regal and distinguished theme of the library. The level of detail and expensive materials used in this room made it look like the interiors of some of the Russian or English palaces of old that were often photographed in magazines or historical books.

There were countless shelves of books and transcripts that stretched back to what seemed like the entire length of the building and across the entire width of the room. There were two levels to the library with twin twisting staircases on either side giving users access to the upper level. He had been in here only once before as access to the library was heavily restricted, but he couldn't remember it being this shockingly luxuriant.

He spent the next hour walking up and down the seemingly endless aisles of collected literature. Occasionally he would stop and pull a book off the shelf as a particular title caught his eye. He would flip through the pages and read any passages inside that interested him. He enjoyed doing this whenever he could at any of the libraries in the countries or cities that he passed through. It was always beneficial to keep yourself informed on many different topics. One never knew when it might prove useful later on. He smiled to himself as he remembered spending an afternoon with Ami at the Azabu-Juban Public Library reading while the other girls had gone off shopping.

He was reading a book about ancient witches and warlocks. The world of magic had always intrigued him and in his experience the more you understood about its power and what it could do, the better equipped you were to deal with the people that misused it. The particular passage he read was about the wizard Daedalus who had terrorized the city of Athens in 125 B.C. His magical abilities were recorded to have ranged from beast control to weather manipulation. The chapter ended with the recounting of how the sorcerer had been slain by a Greek warrior who was said to have wielded the power of Zeus.

"Excuse me."

Sean closed the book lightly around his finger to hold his place before turning to look at the person who had addressed. He resisted the urge to sigh out loud as his eyes fell upon the receptionist. She stood about five feet away at the top of the aisle. She had one hand on her hip and her torso tilted to the opposite side. Her expression and body language were screaming that she was not happy to be there right now and probably had a long list of things she would rather be doing. Sean straightened his shoulders and stood upright as he prepared himself for what he was sure was going to be an uncomfortably short conversation.

"Your meeting with the Inner Council has been re-scheduled for tomorrow at 10:00am. Please put that book back and leave the premises immediately!"

She abruptly turned and walked away without waiting for his response. Sean stared after her as his skin noticeably crawled from the venom dripping in her words. He fought the urge to throw the book in his hand at her retreating form. He opened it again and to resume reading the section he had started. He needed some time to calm down before he passed her on his way out. He spent ten minutes reading the book that he had started before briefly flipping through another on alchemy. It was at that point that he decided it was time to go. He did not want Katharine to call security, which he was fairly sure she would. It was no secret that he wasn't one of their favourite agents because of his past verbal challenges to their authority and balking at their regal and superiority attitude towards the rest of the world. He hated people that had an overdeveloped sense of entitlement.

As he walked down one of the staircases that led towards the main doors of the library, he began to think of how he was going to spend the rest of the day and night in London. Looking at his watch he saw that it was almost 1pm, meaning that he had all afternoon to explore the city. He decided to check into one of the local hotels that he knew and then do some window shopping in the ritzy shops littering the district.

He let a wide smile stretch across his lips as he thought about Usagi's reaction if he returned home tomorrow with no presents for her. It was very frustrating for him to be stuck in London for longer originally thought. He resolved that he had waited a year and a half for this opportunity, and he could wait a few more hours. Another smile crossed his face as he thought about charging the hotel room and any retail purchases he made to the Council as compensation for his extra time in the city.

He stepped back into the lobby and turned towards the front doors. He immediately noticed that Katharine was not at her desk. He silently thanked the higher powers for that good fortune. As he passed by her desk he remembered the Dark Kingdom file. Something deep inside him stirred and told him that he should take the file with him. He stopped and dropped his head slightly as he knew that if he didn't look at the file's contents it was going to bother him for the rest of the day or even longer.

He quickly looked around the lobby to make sure no one was watching. The lobby was completely empty. Taking the unexpected opportunity he walked behind the desk and bent down as he went through the short pile of files on the hidden shelf under the desk's counter. The file he wanted was not at the top where he had first seen it but was now in the middle as if someone had shifted the order while he had been in the library. This didn't raise any alarms with him as a number of normal administrative tasks by Katharine could have accounted for that.

He picked up the thick folder and placed it firmly against his chest. The symbiote that was acting as his shirt opened up and swallowed the file to hide it. Once his partner had returned to its original camouflaged disguise, he stood up and continued to walk towards the door.

Once he passed through the front doors and continued towards the curb to hail a cab the symbiote caught his attention as it spoke inside his head. Sean raised his hand to signal a passing taxi as he silently listened to and mentally communicated with his partner.

_Blood. I smell human blood nearby!_

_You do? Where? _

_Behind us, by the front door! _

Sean put his arm down and turned back to look at the front doors of the Council building. As he looked back at the doors, he realized the guard that had been standing there was nowhere to be seen. As he scanned the spot he noticed a small puddle in the corner of the doorway. He took a step forward and saw that the liquid was dark red.

Suddenly, the Council building exploded outwards in a massive display of destructive power. It sent debris and deadly shrapnel flying out in all directions. The explosion created a gigantic fireball that rocketed skywards as the release of energy propelled out. The concussive force of the explosion sent Sean hurdling backwards into the side of a passing double-decker bus. He slammed hard against it and slumped unconscious to the ground.

Half a world away, at that exact moment, Mamoru Chiba was out for his evening jog. He prided himself on being in the best physical shape possible. To most people this was a great belief to have as it promoted a healthy and strong lifestyle. To Mamoru it was a necessity, it could mean the difference between life and death.

As the masked superhero Tuxedo Mask he faced danger and deadly foes on a seemingly constant basis often in the company of the Sailor Soldiers. He did not possess the augmented strength and physical toughness that the sailors had but he was gifted with enhanced jumping, a heightened sense of balance, as well as superb hand-to-hand combat skills.

He was aware that his very existence was of the utmost importance to the upcoming future of the planet. It was prophesized that he was to inherit the Earth and become its King with Usagi as his Queen. Together they would have a daughter, Chibiusa, and rule the new Earth kingdom that was to be called Crystal Tokyo.

He was following his usual route that took him to the far side of the city before looping back and returning to his condominium apartment building. As he continued to run through the streets, he could tell from the shops that he passed that he was nearing the halfway point of his run. He would usually stop at a small local farmer's because he personally knew the owner since he was a young boy. The stand was operated by a small farmer that had set up the venue as a means to sell his extra produce that he grew back on his farm. The farm's specialities were mutsu apples, ponkan tangerines, satsumaimo sweet potatoes, and piman green peppers. Mamoru would almost always pick one of the yellow green apples since he had never seen one that wasn't suffering to some extent from blister spot disease, a bacterial infection that affected many apple crops across the country.

Mamoru poured on the speed for the last few hundred yards, until he reached the produce stand. His legs were tired from his work out in his condominium's gym earlier that day but he was not going to give up. Although no new enemy had appeared since the defeat of Galaxia, he knew deep down that it was only a matter of time before one did. He had to be physically ready to face that new threat in whatever form it took. He pumped his arms and mentally forced his legs to keep moving despite the impending muscle cramp he felt was quickly coming. Sweat poured down the side of his face and his breathing was becoming much more laboured.

_Just another thirty seconds and I will make it_, he thought to himself.

He finally reached the stand and bent over with his hands on his knees. He took long deep breaths in and out. In his tired haze, he saw the bottom of the wooden boards that made up the stand. A small smile spread across his mouth as he slowly regained his breath and felt his heart rate begin to slow. He was sure he could feel the farmer's amused smile and glare on him.

He began to speak as he leaned upwards when his body allowed him to. "I swear I am getting faster despite how I may look, Mr. Mats…"

His sentence trailed off as he saw that he was alone. The farmer, Mr. Matsomoto, was nowhere in sight. Mamoru glanced over the display stand, it appeared that it hadn't been open at any point today. The display trays where the produce was usually exhibited were completely empty.

What was really strange was that Mamoru had been doing this route consistently four times a week for the past two years, and he had never once seen the stand closed. On the rare occasions where Mr. Matsomoto had been sick, his wife or teenage son would open and run the stand.

It was possible that the entire family might have come down with an illness, but something inside him told him that wasn't the case. He couldn't clearly explain it, but his heightened sense of intuition was telling him that Mr. Matsomoto's absence today was not due to any natural occurrence.

He stood there for a couple more minutes and continued to stare at the empty produce stand. He still tried to deduce what exactly his body was trying to tell him about the strange sight before him. If something bad had indeed happened to Mr. Matsomoto he felt he should investigate and see if he could help him or his family in some way.

He finally turned slowly away from the stand. He began to jog back towards his apartment building. As he ran through the mostly empty streets, he silently pledged to come by tomorrow morning and see if Mr. Matsomoto had returned. If the stand was still closed he would jog to the farm and personally check in on him.

He had known Mr. Matsomoto for many years, ever since his parents died in the car accident when he was six years old. Mr. Matsomoto had helped him through his grief until the pain had lessened. He had made many attempts over the years to try and return the kindness Mr. Matsomoto had shown him, but still felt he hadn't yet done enough to balance the scales. If Mr. Matsomoto was indeed in trouble, nothing was going to stop him from helping him.

Across town, at the Hikawa Shrine, Rei was finishing the night time closing of the temple. She had finished sweeping the front stairs to clear them of any fallen leaves or clumps of dirt tracked by the day's visitors. She was in the process of making her final round of the shrine's main building by lighting the Zen candle lanterns that adorned the corners of the outside of the shrine. When she had finished the task, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed as she focused her senses and keyed them to her surrounding environment. It was too quiet at the shrine for this time of night. This unsettled her a little.

She risked a glance down at her wristwatch underneath the sleeve of her white temple maiden tunic. It was 9:15pm on a Thursday. Her eyes opened wide as she realized what was different about tonight. She lifted her head and looked towards the front entrance of the Shrine's grounds. She was so focused on the front gate that she didn't hear her grandpa approach her from behind. He lightly tapped her on the shoulder which caused her to jump and scream out in surprise.

"Ahh!"

"Ahh!" Her grandpa yelled in response.

"Grandpa! I told you not to do that! You scared the hell outta me!"

"Hey! Watch your language around me young lady! I just wanted to see if Mrs. Sanjoin had come by again."

"No she hasn't."

"That is too bad! Ah well, maybe she will come by tomorrow."

Rei watched as her grandpa turned around and walked back into the main building of the shrine. When the door slid closed behind him, she turned to look at the Praying Area of the temple. The woman that grandpa had mentioned, Mrs. Sanjoin, had been coming to the shrine every Thursday for the past six months, since her husband of ten years had died. She would come at the temple's closing time since she worked all day and wanted the privacy the late hour would provide so that she could speak and send well wishes to her late beloved spouse.

Normally, Rei wouldn't keep the shrine open past its designated hours of operation, since she had school work to complete and/or wanted time to herself to relax and be a normal girl. However, she was sympathetic to Mrs. Sanjoin because she had lost her mother at a young age and still often prayed for her spirit to find some semblance of peace, if it hadn't already. She could understand the older woman's need to use the power of faith and prayer to help her through the tragic aftermath that occurs when someone you love is suddenly taken away from you.

As she glanced at the spot where Mrs. Sanjoin would usually kneel Rei couldn't recall a single Thursday evening since Mrs. Sanjoin had first started coming that she hadn't been faithful to her weekly ritual. She had even come on days when it was clear that she should be back home in bed due to some sort of virus or illness. It was that level of dedication that made her absence tonight more than a little disturbing.

She walked up to the prayer altar and knelt in front of it. She had observed Mrs. Sanjoin a few times from a respectful distance so she had learned her late husband's name. She whispered it out loud as she clasped her hands together. She closed her eyes, lowered her head, and focused her mind on his name. She silently prayed for him and chanted some protection spells to keep him safe as he drifted through the land of the dead. When she was done, she slowly stood and lightly tugged on the thick rope attached to the large bell hanging above the altar. It began to chime in a short rhythmic melody to alert the spirit world that some well wishes were on their way.

As she turned and headed towards her bedroom her psychic senses began to react. She immediately stopped and closed her eyes so she could listen to her body as it spoke to her. Her extra sensory perception was picking something up from the spirit world. She used her many years of practice to interpret it. Something was happening with Mr. Sanjoin. It couldn't be a coincidence that she suddenly had a psychic reaction after praying to someone she had never met. What was he trying to tell her?

She made a detour to the fire chamber where she spent the next hour consulting the sacred flames. She knelt before the pit that of bright orange flames. She put her hands together and concentrated on centering her internal energies and mind to access the spirit world. She focused on the power of the flames for the answers that she sought. She chanted the nine words of the kuji.

"Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin Retsu, Zai, Zen."

The flames reacted to her chant and flared upwards as a clear image became visible. Rei opened her eyes and peered at the visual that simmered among the upwards flickering flames. Her mouth opened slightly and her eyes began to tear as the image fully registered. It was Mrs. Sanjoin and she was being held by her husband in a tender embrace. Her face seemed both happy and sad.

The image vanished as the fires swallowed it up. Now she understood why Mrs. Sanjoin hadn't come to the shrine. She had passed away at some point this past week and crossed over to join her husband. She had seemed young, perhaps her mid forties. From what Rei had observed during her weekly visits she had appeared to be in good health and gave no indication that she was terminally ill. Rei deeply hoped that Mrs. Sanjoin's departure had been a natural passing.

She safely put out the fires in the centre of the chamber by the proper procedures. She blew out the candles that emitted the light illuminating the room until she was bathed in the complete darkness. It was only then that she let her tears fall down her cheeks. Seeing Mrs. Sanjoin cross over at such a young age reopened her own inner sadness at losing her mother. She quietly sobbed for several minutes as she stood alone in the darkened room.

_5 years ago… _

It was very crowded in the throne room. There were monsters in every direction. They were loudly chatting away amongst themselves as they awaited the reason for the summons by their Queen. In the centre of the chamber, the four generals stood behind the Grand General of the Dark Kingdom. The lesser monsters stayed to the outside rim allowing the generals to be proudly showcased as their title and stature demanded.

The four generals, Jadeite, Nephlite, Zoisite, Kunzite, and the Grand General, Apachite, were all dressed in the uniforms of the Shitennou. Each of them wore epaulettes on their shoulders showing their respective ranks within the Dark Kingdom's army. Apachite was the leader, even though the other generals, with the possible exception of Zoisite, would gladly take that responsibility from him if the opportunity presented itself.

They all faced the throne craved into the frozen bedrock making up their base in Arctic Circle known as D-Point. High above the throne was an enormous engraved sculpture of a reptilian creature with huge teeth giving it the appearance that it was smiling. It had huge frog like eyes and fleshy whiskers protruding from its chin. The purpose of the craving was to inspire fear in anyone that saw it.

In a swirling cloud of dark smoke Queen Beryl appeared in front of her throne. At first glance, she appeared to be human, but upon closer inspection clearly wasn't. Her curly bright red hair hung behind her shoulders and was held back by her jagged-edged purple crown. She wore a light purple strapless dress cut open near the top exposing her ample cleavage. The dress extended all the way to the floor hiding her feet from view. She had a single small horn extending from both shoulders, and her long red fingernails looked like claws. She held a long black sceptre with a crystal ball floating several inches above the top of its head. Several short branches reached upwards like an open hand trying to grasp the glass orb.

She sat on her throne with the sceptre floating in front of her. She began to move her hands up and down on either side of the crystal ball in a hypnotic pattern. No one present dared to speak a word as they all waited on baited breath for her to speak. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence she lifted her eyes away from her orb and looked directly at her generals standing before her.

"Apachite! I must commend you for your successes in causing global turmoil among the foolish humans of this planet."

"Thank you my Queen!"

"Your collective death toll thus far has been most impressive, and should be recognized as such."

"I live to serve you and the Dark Kingdom."

"Now to the business at hand. I have summoned you all here today because our great ruler, Queen Metalia, has become restless. She wants us to increase our energy collection so that she can be fully revived."

The chamber remained deathly quiet as everyone present thought about what Queen Beryl had just said. Queen Metalia was an amorphous being and the ultimate driving force behind the Dark Kingdom. The servants of it referred to it as a female because that made things simpler and went with the title that it had given itself. She was the only one that had the authority to give any kind of orders to Queen Beryl. For the past ten millennia, Metalia had been reduced to little more than an advisory shadow after having lost almost all of her power when the Dark Kingdom was defeated by Queen Serenity in the ancient Great War with the Moon Kingdom.

Approximately twelve years ago Queen Metalia's servants had finally been released from their long imprisonment which was another result of Queen Serenity's final offensive act. The poor Arctic explorers that had unwittingly broken the seal that had confined them for so long were the first victims of the newly resurrected Dark Kingdom.

Upon her release, Queen Beryl had ordered her minions to set up their base where Queen Metalia was still being kept until they could release her. Once things had been established they began the operations to collect energy from humans so they could restore Metalia's full power.

To avoid drawing the attention of Earth's inhabitants, they mainly captured runaways, the homeless, and transient drifters in small numbers. They had drained their bodies dry until they died and then burned the empty husks in an inferno of black fire. Over twelve years, Queen Metalia grew steadily stronger and her powers continued to slowly return as a result. During this time it seemed that she had grown impatient and wanted to speed up the process.

Apachite didn't like this new course of action. He turned to look back at his trusted lieutenant, Danburite, over his right shoulder. The look on his face mirrored Apachite's and it was clear that he too wasn't happy with Queen Beryl's announcement.

Apachite turned back to face his Queen as a stern look became plastered across his face. He saw Beryl's eyes flick over to look at him and her mouth twisted downward into a barely noticeable frown. He straightened his shoulders and steadied himself. He knew that sometime in the near future she would question his apparent lack of approval.

"Kunzite! You will establish a company in Tokyo Japan that will lure young people into our clutches by using monsters disguised as famous singers and actors. Once you have captured them, you will drain their energy and dispose of their bodies. I want this Dark Agency to not raise any attention from the authorities so take as many servants as you need to carry out this objective."

"Yes Queen Beryl. It will be done at once!"

"Zoisite! You will take some of our servants to London, England and continue to capture and drain anyone you can of their life energy."

"Yes my queen!"

Apachite bit down on his lower lip. He could sense that this was a grave mistake being made by Queen Beryl and knew that if he did not attempt to stop this it would mean the destruction of the Dark Kingdom or worse, Kunzite would take his place as Grand General if he successfully revived Queen Metalia. He turned to look back at Danburite again and silently told him what he was about to do. Danburite returned his stare with one that pleaded him not to do it.

"Apachite. You disapprove?"

Apachite turned back to face Queen Beryl. Her face was wrinkled into a nasty looking scowl that showed her displeasure at his clear reaction to her orders. He knew that she demanded complete and absolute obedience from all of her subjects, especially from her generals. She did not like being openly challenged or even questioned when she gave orders to them. More than once over the past decade she had destroyed monsters that dared to defy her as an example to the rest.

He straightened his back and planted his feet as he readied himself for what was about to happen. Behind him the other generals were watching with hidden amusement. They did not dare show any kind of emotion, but deep inside they were taking great pleasure in Apachite's situation. None of the generals liked each other and they all deeply coveted the opportunity to be Queen Beryl's number one servant. They all wanted to be the supreme leader of the Dark Kingdom's armies and more than one of them had even dared to think about overthrowing Queen Beryl herself.

"My Queen, I must say that I have deep reservations about this new strategy that you have proposed."

A loud collective gasp circulated around the room as everyone present prepared for the upcoming display of rage from Queen Beryl. The four generals rolled their shoulders backwards and stood tall. They wanted to show Beryl that they did not support Apachite's beliefs and were not a part of his apparent display of mutiny. Danburite lowered his head in an instinctive reflex. He quietly hoped that Queen Beryl would be merciful and spare his master from a fate such as the "Eternal Sleep".

"Oh really? What do you see wrong with my plan Apachite?"

"My Queen, with all due respect, we have been able to remain undetected by the inhabitants of Earth for many years now. Look at the progress we have made as a result. Our ruler, Metalia, is growing stronger every day and one day soon, she will be fully restored. However, we underestimated the resourcefulness of our enemies once and were sealed away for ten millennia because of it. We should not make the same mistake again when it comes to the people of Earth."

It became even quieter inside the chamber. Everyone waited on baited breath to see what Queen Beryl's reaction was going to be. No one had ever dared to speak to her in such a blunt and blatant manner. The notion of "Eternal Sleep", which was considered to be the worse punishments given to the dark servants, suddenly seemed too mild for what could be considered a capital crime in the Dark Kingdom.

Huge waves of purple-black energy radiated violently outwards from Queen Beryl. Some of the energy struck the walls of the throne room causing some of the bedrock to break loose and fall to the ground. The other energy waves whipped harmlessly through the air above the gathered crowd of monsters and generals. The frightening display of magical power let everyone know that Queen Beryl was beyond the point of extreme anger.

"You dare to challenge me in my own throne room, in my Dark Kingdom? I will not tolerate such insubordination from anyone!"

In a flash a sphere of flickering black and white energy sprung from Queen Beryl's sceptre and completely engulfed Apachite in a brilliant light. A guttural scream could be heard coming from Apachite as the crowd around him struggled to see what was going on through the blinding flash.

When the light began to dissipate the gathered servants of the Dark Kingdom turned to look at the results of Queen Beryl's wrath. Some of them fully expected to see Apachite encased in a large black crystal, Others expected to see him mortally wounded or even vapourized with only a burn mark on the stone floor as evidence of his existence.

What they saw instead was Apachite down on one knee and one hand flat on the ground as he visibly struggled to maintain position. Thick plumes of white and grey smoke wafted off his body as indication that a significant amount of heat had been generated during the attack. Apachite lifted his head to look up at Queen Beryl with animosity in his dark brown eyes.

"Be thankful that I spared your life Apachite! I have merely drained you of your energy and stripped you of your title and honour. You are no longer the Grand General of the Dark Kingdom. Your army will be divided among the remaining generals and you are now a servant in my personal army. You will answer my beck and call when I summon you or face certain death. Furthermore, you are banished from this place for all eternity and will only be allowed entry when I command it!"

Apachite gritted his teeth as the epaulettes disappeared off the shoulders of his uniform. He looked around at the crowd of Dark Kingdom citizens, the other four generals, and Danburite. The look that his former lieutenant gave him was of pity and sadness. He only looked at Apachite for a second before he turned his head and cast his gaze downwards. That simple action from him was the final nail in the proverbial coffin of Apachite's total and public humiliation.

He was a warrior first and a servant of the Dark Kingdom second. Having his honour stripped away by someone that he considered to be unworthy was a great insult. As he looked back and stared at what he now considered his former queen he wanted nothing more than to show her the folly of embarrassing a person of his station in such a public venue. He silently vowed that once he had regained his full power he would relish the sight of watching her grovel at his feet and beg him to show her the same mercy.

"Now, get out my sight!"

Apachite slowly stood up as his body was still severely weakened from Queen Beryl's attack. Once he was fully upright he griped the bottom of his uniform jacket and pulled down on it to straighten out any wrinkles in it. He lifted his chin and puffed out his chest to show that he was not intimidated by the Queen of the Dark Kingdom like so many others around him were. In response to his gestures Queen Beryl's eyes narrowed as she prepared herself for a possible attack from him. He took one last look at Danburite who returned his look. He then slowly faded away in a rippling of the stale air inside the throne room. A few seconds later he was completely gone, leaving the Queen and her court to continue to plot out their new attack strategy against the people of Earth.

End of Chapter 5…


	7. London to Tokyo Nonstop!

1

Chapter 6: London to Tokyo Non-stop

He heard the sounds a few seconds registered what they were. They sounded like they were coming from a great distance and were hard to pinpoint which direction they were coming from. He slowly began to make out the muffled sounds of people crying and screaming as well as sirens of rapidly approaching emergency vehicles. He tried to open his eyes to see what was happening but they did not respond. He began to panic as he desperately tried to lift his eyelids.

His eyes finally snapped open and his head jerked upwards as he regained full consciousness. He expelled a deep breath due to the shock of waking up so suddenly. He grasped at his chest as his lungs took in a large amount of dirty air causing him to coughing hoarsely. His head felt like it was in a vice and his vision was shaky, and spun around in wide circles until finally righting itself. He felt nauseous and it took everything he had left in him to keep himself from vomiting. There was a constant buzzing in his ear like a high pitched screech. He couldn't hear anything clearly.

He slowly began to stand when a hand gently and forcefully pushed him back down. Sean turned his head to look at the person preventing his laboured attempt to get up. A young male first responder looked down at him. He held a small flashlight in his hand and was shining it in Sean's eyes.

"Sir, please don't try to move."

"What happened?"

"There was an explosion. It looks like the force of the blast sent you into the side of this bus. You probably have serious internal injuries, so you must stay still until the ambulance gets here."

"Explosion?"

The memory of what happened jolted into his memory. He recalled walking towards the Council building after his symbiote sensed the presence of human blood. He had taken a few steps toward the front door when a massive bang followed by a powerful force hit him and lifted him off his feet. He wasn't exactly sure what happened next or how much time had passed since.

He remained still as the paramedic continued to look for any other injuries besides the dozens of cuts and bruises that were visible all over his body. Mentally he did his own internal check. He did not feel any sharp pains anywhere. He had a very good idea what a broken bone would feel like since he had his shoulder dislocated over a year ago when he had battled the demon prince, Gaap.

He was also smart enough to know that the absence of pain did not necessarily mean that he was in the clear either. He may have suffered neurological damage that would prevent pain receptors in his brain from receiving that important information. There was only one way for him to know for sure. In the recesses of their shared brain he began to speak to his alien partner.

_My friend, are you ok? _

_Yes I am fine and so are you. _

_I am? _

_Yes, the sonic wave from the explosion stunned me for a second but I was still able to put up a thin cushion along the back of your body before you hit the bus. You avoided suffering any serious concussions, broken limbs, and other serious injuries that any other human would have sustained. I am working hard right to repair any damage our body did receive. _

The paramedic began to speak to him again. The screech in his ears was starting to lessen, but it took the paramedic's visual hand wave across the front of his face to fully get his attention. Sean quickly thanked his partner and turned his head to focus on the young emergency services worker.

"Sir I can't find any clear evidence of anything being broken, but some of these cuts are going to require stiches. I would say that you were extremely lucky considering your close proximity to the blast. I am still insisting that you sit here and wait to get checked at the hospital."

Sean could only nod as the paramedic anxiously waited for his confirmation. Sean knew it was pointless to try to argue, but he knew that he could not go to the hospital under any circumstances. He did not want any doctor to check him too closely or run any tests on his blood. It was far too risky that his symbiote might be discovered and his true identity made public or he could be locked up in a government facility to be studied and experimented on.

"Help. We need some help over here now."

The paramedic turned to look at a group of people fifty yards away. They were waving him over. He turned back to Sean and got his attention again by placing his hand on his shoulder.

"I will be right back. Do not to move."

He quickly and hastily collected his tools and instruments before turning around to hurry to where the group of people was standing. As soon as he became focused on his new patient Sean resumed his efforts to stand. His head was throbbing and that made his balance shaky. He stumbled forwards a couple of times as he got his feet firmly underneath him. As his spine became erect he could feel snaps and cracks as his vertebrae fall back into place. He felt a sudden rush of lightheadedness when he completed the usually easy movement. He reached back and put one of his arms against the side of the bus for support.

When the dizziness finally calmed down to a point where he felt it was safe to move he took his hand off the bus and panned his eyes slowly around the scene surrounding him. The Council building was destroyed with huge towering flames jutting out of some of the second and third floor windows. The overall structure looked irreparable and would be torn down as soon as the investigators were done with it. Papers were raining down onto the blast area like snowflakes. The result of the explosion had ripped through the Council's extensive library.

When he turned to look behind him he saw that the buildings across the street had suffered heavy damage. Almost all of the windows facing the Council building had been shattered and the chunks of mortar and brick that had been launched by the blast caused huge dents and holes in the outer surfaces of the structures. All though the area it sounded like all of the parked cars along the street with alarms blaring. They had also been dealt significant damage from the flying debris caused by the explosion resulting in thousands of dollars' worth of damages. The double decker bus he had slammed into had come to a stop a few feet away from him. The dent in its side was clear as day in the unmistakable shape of a human torso with outstretched arms.

He had to get out of here and quickly. Since he saw the full scope of the damage on the bus caused by him the police would definitely be asking him how a young man could do that and not suffer anything more than a few deep gashes and a severe headache. He wasn't sure how long he had been knocked unconscious but he knew that he had to get back to Heathrow Airport as soon as possible.

He scanned the area again as he looked for an escape route. He felt a hand grab his shoulder and force him to turn around. He found himself looking into the face of the young paramedic that had been helping him a few minutes earlier. The look on his face showed Sean that he was irritated for not listening to his specific instructions to remain on the ground and wait for additional help to arrive.

"I told you to remain on the ground sir. I don't want to have too baby-sit you as I try to help other people just because you are too stupid to stay sti—"

The paramedic's sentence was cut short as a series of loud metallic cracks and grinding cut through the overwhelming chaos of the blast zone. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at what was once the Illuminati Council building. The noises continued as the newly arrived police officers and EMTs began to quickly push the rapidly growing crowds of on-lookers back.

"Get back everyone. The building is coming down."

The building began to sway and lurch slightly as the fires still burning inside continued to weaken the interior structural walls that remained. Another blast ripped through the building from somewhere inside. It was noticeably smaller than the first and was probably the result of a ruptured gas line being ignited.

The onset of the small blast caused everyone to immediately take cover as the building finally gave way. The heavy roof could no longer be properly supported by the damaged infrastructure that remained underneath it. The building collapsed downwards in reminiscence of the World Trade Center buildings in the September 11th attacks.

The building's collapse and the resulting impact as the rubble struck the ground kicked up a massive cloud of dust as the dirt and debris was pushed upwards by the force of the heavy impact. The police and other emergency service workers tried to shield as many people as they could from any flying shrapnel as the crowds reacted to the awesome and destructive scene occurring.

The paramedic who had his hand on Sean's shoulder let him go when the building started to collapse. He had taken cover without hesitation behind the double decker bus still parked nearby. When he emerged a few minutes later after the swirling dust and debris began to settle he remembered the young man that he had just been holding on to.

He scanned the area where he had last seen him and was shocked to see that there was no sign of him. The yells and screams of the injured people nearby snapped his attention back to what was occurring around him. He quickly went to the nearest calls of distress and got back to work attending to the wounded.

Approximately seven blocks east, Sean was jumping from rooftop to rooftop on a straight line course towards Heathrow Airport. He had used the distraction created by the building's sudden collapse to duck into one of the narrow alleys on the opposite side of the street. From there, he quickly transformed into Carnage and wall climbed to the roof of one of the buildings that made up the alley. Once he got his bearings, he began to run at full speed.

His symbiote granted him augmented speed and an endurance level that surpassed even that of an Olympic athlete. This is what had allowed him to be an effective defender of the planet for so many years. However, even with those gifts at his disposal, he knew it was still going to take him over twenty minutes or more to get to the airport. Time was a precious commodity he did not have.

He realized it may have been faster to steal a car or take a taxi but, with the confusion that the explosion most certainly was causing throughout the city, there was no guarantee that those methods would have proven to be any faster. There was just too much of a risk of being caught in a traffic jam or stopped by a police. He did not want to draw any more attention to himself in his human identity than he already had especially if that paramedic back at the blast zone issued a city-wide search for him.

He shook his head to clear some more of the cobwebs from his brain as he completed another jump. He landed on the building at the corner of Chiswick High Road and Cambridge Road North. He could hear the sounds of the A4 freeway less than a mile away. If he could hitch a ride on the top of a transport truck heading east he could make up some lost time and get to the airport much quicker than if he continued to run. He turned and headed south down the short side street until it ended right at the edge of the perpendicular running A4 freeway. From his position, he couldn't jump high enough, even with his enhanced jumping ability, to successfully land on a passing semi-truck. He would have to snag its roof with one of his symbiotic tendrils and reel himself up onto the truck when the symbiotic grappling barb successfully made contact with it.

He waited impatiently for several minutes for a semi-truck to come within striking range. After what seemed like hours, one finally came into view from his vantage point below the freeway. It was a large white eighteen-wheeler with the markings for a large supermarket chain on its sides. It was traveling at about 80 mph with no signs of slowing down. Carnage let the symbiote guide his arm motions as it threw out a thick tendril towards the passing truck.

The tendril struck the side of the truck near the top and took hold. Carnage was snapped off the roof of the building like a whip and began to pull himself up as quickly as he could. He had to get to the top and out of sight before any passing motorists following behind the truck signaled to the driver that he had an unexpected passenger. Luckily the truck was in the right lane so there were no cars on that side to contend with. Carnage was only in sight for a few seconds.

Carnage spun his body up on to the flat surface of the truck's roof. He quickly lay down on his stomach to get his body as flat as possible. He extended his arms out to the sides so that his clawed fingers tightly gripped the edges of the truck's roof. He struck several spikes from his chest down into the metal framing underneath him for additional support against the high speed wind that sheared against his symbiotic skin.

The truck continued along the highway without reducing its speed. Carnage was thankfully that it stayed on the A4 freeway when it reached the split between A4 and M4. He knew he was going to have to bail when it passed by Heathrow as it was unlikely that a supermarket delivery truck would be going into a busy international airport. He had about another fifteen minutes before they would reach his stop. He could use that time to rest. He felt his body relax slightly and the physical efforts of his sprint and truck lassoing began to set in. He felt a sharp pain in his left ribcage from where he had slammed into the side of the bus following his snaring of the passing truck. Until it healed it would probably affect his endurance if he had to run at full speed again.

Steven and Gordon were sitting in the break room of the private hangar. They had just completed the paper work that was required by the Council whenever the private jet was used. They just attempted to fax it over to the department head but the fax machine had kept telling them that the line was busy.

They had then decided to have a coffee and their lunches before they attempted to fax the forms over again. Gordon was at the counter and in the process of pouring a cup from the pot as Steven turned on the television and let it power up.

"We are interrupting this regularly scheduled program with some late breaking news. A massive explosion has completely destroyed a building in downtown London about forty-five minutes ago. We have no reports about any injuries or casualties as of yet but police say that the blast appears suspicious in nature. The blast occurred at approximately 1pm today"

Steven looked at Gordon, who was looking at the news report. The television was showing an aerial shot of the destruction as firefighters blasted huge streams of water onto the enormous pile of rubble in an effort to effectively extinguish any remaining fires. The flashing lights of police cars and ambulances could be seen on the street in front of the affected zone. They appeared to be acting like a barrier to keep the citizens at a safe distance while they attended to any of the survivors that were still being pulled out of the wreckage.

"Gordon isn't that the Council Building?"

Gordon didn't immediately answer him. When he didn't get a response Steven looked at his partner. He saw that Gordon's focus was on something behind him and the look on his face told him that whatever it was, it wasn't good. He spun around and saw a large red humanoid monster standing in the doorway. Wild red tentacles were flapping all around as it stared at both of them with huge teardrop shaped eyes.

Steven had never seen Carnage in person before, so the sight of him in person terrified him like nothing else ever had. He opened his mouth to scream but in a flash of movement Carnage lunged forward and slammed him against a nearby wall. He placed his clawed hand over Steven's mouth to prevent him from issuing any kind of sound. The sudden blur of movement and Steven being forcibly pressed up against the wall had caused Gordon's body to flinch in response. This abrupt reaction made him drop the coffee pot he was still holding to the ground where it shattered in dozens of jagged pieces.

"Bloody hell Carnage. Why did you do that?"

Carnage continued to hold Steven tight against the wall and remained silent. Gordon began to think that Carnage had gone rogue and destroyed the Council building before coming here to eliminate the only remaining loose ends, Steven and himself. After a few more incredibly tense seconds Carnage turned to face Gordon, still holding his hand over Steven's mouth.

"I don't have time to play nice Gordon. I need you and Steven to fly me to Tokyo right now."

"We can't do that. We have to get clearance from the Council. We have to follow the proper protocols. We—"

"The Council is dead Gordon. The EMTs are not going to find any survivors in all that crap just bodies. We are under attack by some unknown enemy and we need to get out of London as soon as possible. I can't fly that plane by myself, or I already would be. I need you two and I need you both now."

"How do I know you didn't set that explosion off yourself? How do I know I can trust you when you are acting like this right now?"

Carnage snapped his other arm out and ensnared Gordon around the waist with a symbiotic vine. He then retracted the tendril pulling him forwards until they were face to face. His large white eyes stared directly into Gordon's sending waves of terror down his spine. Carnage began to speak in a quick and menacing tone.

"Listen. We have less than one hour before the city officials ground all aircraft when they realize that explosion was an act of terrorism. I would very much like to be out of British airspace by then and on my way to Japan."

Gordon tried to utter a protest, but was cut off by Carnage. The tone of his voice dropped even further and Gordon could swear that it was the Devil himself talking.

"The Council is dead which means that there is no one else but us. Therefore, I am invoking 'Executive Order 1-92-200-97' which states that in times of urgency operatives such as me are given leadership or executive freedoms that are normally reserved for the Inner Council. Now are you going to follow my command and fly me to Japan? Or am I going to have to convince you through other, less pleasant, means?"

Gordon's body trembled as his mind began to think of all the things Carnage could do to convince him and Steven to do as he said. Each idea was more disturbing than the last. He looked passed Carnage at Steven whose face was still being held tightly against the wall. His blue eyes flicked over so that he was looking back, pleading with him to agree to Carnage's request. Gordon let a deep sigh escape his lips as his shoulders dropped in defeat.

"Ok you win. We will fly you to Tokyo as you order."

"Good. Is the plane fuelled and ready to go?"

"Yes it should be. We started the re-fuelling as soon as we pulled into the hangar, per Council policy. We just need to log our flight plan in with the tower."

"There is no time for that. Just get everything that you need and let's move."

Carnage let go of Steven and Gordon at the same time. He turned away from them and quickly exited the break room. After he was gone, Steven began to rub his neck where the clawed hand had tightly held it. Gordon put his hand on his shoulder. The senior pilot was giving him a concerned look as he tried to silently reassure him. The return look that Steven gave told Gordon two things: he was alright, and he did not like what was happening. He had to agree with him entirely on the second.

Ten minutes later, the plane was pulling out of the private hangar and making its way to the airport's flight deck to await its turn to taxi down the runway and take-off.

"IC-23905. You have not submitted a flight plan with us. We cannot clear you for take-off until you do over."

"Tower this is IC-23905. We are requesting special permission as per security code '52A3F.'"

"Security Code entered. Please await confirmation of clearance."

The security code '52A3F' was a special order that the Illuminati had put into place through their powerful political influences in the British Parliament. This specific order gave any Council planes the freedom to land or take-off from any British airport, regardless of situation. It was meant as a means to get their operatives to any hotspot locations as quickly as possible when time was of the essence. Carnage had told Gordon to use it if the Tower officials initially denied them clearance for take-off. The three of them were sitting in the cockpit of the jet as they waited. Gordon and Steven spun their chairs around to face Carnage, who was sitting in the third chair by the navigation controls.

"IC-23905. The runway is clear but we have not yet received confirmation. Please remain where you are until confirmation is received."

"Gordon take-off now."

"We can't. The Tower has to clear us or they will know that we are not acting on the Council's orders. They will label us as hostiles and get the military or another country's air force to shoot us down."

"They are not going to get clearance. Take off now. I will make sure that we are safe from any counter-measures they may take against us."

"What are you going to do?"

Instead of answering, Carnage raised his right hand and morphed it into a razor-sharp blade. He stared at both of them with an intense look that bordered on psychotic.

"Ok ok we will take-off. Just go do whatever you have to."

Carnage got out of the navigator's chair located behind the pilot and co-pilot's seats and opened the cockpit's door. Gordon and Steven watched him leave as the frightening presence he was emitting still lingered around them. After a moment, they swung their chairs around and began to propel the jet down the runway.

Carnage made his way to the middle of the plane, between the sleeping quarters and the dining area. This was the part of the plane where the magical books and objects were kept. The Council liked to pride itself on being prepared for any situation their operatives may encounter during their missions. It was for that reason that they kept a mini-library of offensive and defensive magical spells on hand, in the case their planes were ever engaged or suffered a crisis in mid-flight. Carnage quickly grabbed a book on defensive spells and began to flip through it as looking for a particular spell he had remembered reading on a previous flight. He felt the plane lurch forward letting him know that Gordon and Steven were indeed following his order to take-off.

Back in the cockpit, the plane was rapidly picking up speed and would be airborne in a matter of seconds. The tension and nervousness felt by both Steven and Gordon was overbearing. They were entering the point of no return. They were going too fast to stop safely if it was ever deemed necessary and once they were in the air, they had only minutes before the Royal Air Force would be on them and they would officially be branded as enemy combatants.

"IC-23905. Your confirmation has not been received. Abort your take-off and return to your hangar immediately."

Gordon and Steven ignored the Tower's orders and continued to push forward towards the end of the runway. It was all or nothing.

"IC-23905. If you do not abort your take-off at once you will be shot down."

Gordon leaned his head back and tilted his chin upwards. He yelled back over his shoulder into the empty plane behind him, hoping that his words would be heard by Carnage currently.

"Carnage, whatever you are going to do you better do it soon or this is going to be a really short flight."

In the library section of the plane Carnage was sitting crossed-legged on the floor by the bookcase that housed the artifacts and reference materials. He heard Gordon's shout from the cockpit but purposely chose not to respond. He needed to clear his mind and have complete concentration in order for this spell to work correctly. He wished that one of the Council's warlocks or another magically inclined individual was there. He would have even settled for Rei as her psychic abilities and strong connection to the spirit world might increase the chances of a successful spell casting.

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind and quieted his brain. He slowed his breathing and heart rate to a state that was similar to a deep REM sleep cycle. He was then able to tune out the sounds of the bumping up and down of the airplane as it sped down the runway, and focus his internal energy on the task before him.

When he achieved the correct level of concentration and inner focus he began to chant the verses of the spell in perfect Latin. He had become fluent in the dead language and had spent much of the time on his travels and flights over the past year practicing it. The words flowed from his non-human mouth in an empty tone, devoid of emotion.

"Flecte, lux mundi"

"Fac me et omnia circumdabit me"

"Circumdedit me in mundo inuisibili"

"Iungere vires Ioui et North"

"tegi nos ab inimicis nostris"

"Ut nos ab iniuria tuta est, quaeso."

Almost immediately the smell of ozone blanketed the inside of the plane. It was the tell-tale sign of a strong electrical current surging through the nearby area. Carnage instantly smelled it but did not break his concentration. He had to maintain the spell's hold as long as was needed until it was completed. He felt his internal life force being rapidly drained as the spell took energy to complete its task. The symbiote without, being asked or told, added its own life essence to the spell. This stronger form of life energy would buy them more time and delay the onset of physical fatigue in their shared body until the spell was finally completed.

The plane's front tires left the runway's surface and its nose began to tilt upwards. In a few seconds the jet was airborne and beginning its ascent into the sky. Gordon and Steven's faces were covered in nervous sweat as they now had minutes before the British fighter planes would appear and force them down one way or the other. All they could do now was begin their journey towards Japan and hope that Carnage was successful in whatever he was doing.

As that last thought passed through both of their minds a bolt of white lightning flashed across the windshield of the cockpit causing Gordon and Steven to curse out loud. Neither of them could explain where the lightning flash had come from as it was a crystal clear day with only a large accumulation of white cirrocumulus clouds present. There were no signs of any nimbostratus clouds or anything that would indict an incoming electrical storm.

A few more quick bolts of lightning flashed across the front of the windshield. After a couple minutes, they reached their desired altitude and began to cruise at the normal flying speed. Gordon activated the autopilot and let the plane fly itself as they tried to steady their nerves after their dramatic takeoff. Both of them were intently watching the radar and scanning the open space outside the windows looking for any sign of the military planes they knew would be coming after them. Gordon turned to look at Steven, who felt his superior official's gaze on his back, and turned to look at him.

"When those jets get here we will listen to them and follow their instructions. I don't want to get blown up by one of their missiles. You got that?"

"That won't be happening so you both can relax."

The pilots turned to see Carnage entering the cockpit once again. He sat back in the navigation chair and reverted to his human persona. He put on the headset that was on the small counter before him and then spun his chair towards the front of the plane. He saw that both of his comrades were looking at him as they waited anxiously for an explanation.

"I cast a spell that has made us invisible to human eyes. The spell is also emitting an electro-magnetic pulse that is keeping any electronic sensors such as radar from detecting us. In answer to your next question we are protected from the pulse due to the defensive nature of the magic used."

Sean could tell that neither of them believed him or were willing to put any trust in his words. He really couldn't blame them when he considered the aggressive attitude and tactics he had used. He decided that he would just have to prove it to them.

"If you don't believe me stand up and see if you can see the nose of the plane."

Gordon and Steven exchanged confused looks. They slowly turned their chairs and took off their headsets. They both stood up and peered over the main control console and out the front window of the plane. Sure enough, just as Sean had alluded, the front of the airplane was indeed gone. They both immediately looked out the side windows and saw that the wings of the plane had also vanished from sight. As a reflex, they both looked down at the central console and saw that all four engines were still running properly and were still connected to the main control array of the plane. They fell back into their chair and slowly turned to look back at Sean. The looks on their faces let him know that they were starting to believe him and his words.

After fifteen minutes had passed, and no fighter jet or other military vehicle had presented itself, they finally began to allow themselves to relax. Sean smiled as he turned his chair to face the navigation screen.

"How long will it take us to reach Tokyo?"

"It is approximately eleven hours depending on the smoothness of the flight and whether we encounter any turbulence."

Sean looked at the digital clock on the control panel in front of him. It was 2:30pm London time right now. Tokyo was eight hours ahead in terms of global time zones and in relation to London time. That meant that it was currently 10:30pm there right now. They would arrive at approximately 9:30am Tokyo time tomorrow.

He sat back in his chair as he let that fact roll around in his head. It was going to be a long flight. He had to alleviate the thick atmosphere between him and his comrades or it may cause an issue between them later if he needed their services again.

"Hey guys, thank you for helping me."

Both Gordon and Steven were silent, but Sean could see from their body language that they had heard him and were debating on how to react. Gordon suddenly began to laugh. It was a full and hearty laugh that you might expect to come from a large man or perhaps Santa Claus. His laughter proved to be contagious as Steven and then Sean joined in. They shared a couple of minutes in the loud chorus of amusement. When they finally stopped to catch their collective breaths Gordon wiped the tears away from his face and began to speak. A few last giggles cut into his speech.

"Just like old times eh, Sean? You couldn't leave us without one more dramatic event could you?"

"You know me Gordon. I have to bring some excitement to your lives."

They shared another short burst of laughter before settling into a comfortable calmness. The tension was now gone and things were back to normal. Three friends who had been around the world together now had another story to add to their collection.

Almost six thousand miles away in a large Victorian house located in a remote section of the Minato Ward of Tokyo, Michiru was sitting on the back porch. She was holding her Deep Aqua Mirror in her hands as she looked into the backyard. Her medium length aqua-marine hair was held back with a white hairband, and her loose fitting sundress was a light pumpkin orange.

As she stared out into the wild ravine that began at the edge of their property she felt a figure appear in the doorway to her right. She did not need to turn her head to see who it was. A small smile crept across her lips as she dropped her head in playful acknowledgement of the newcomer's entrance.

"You know you can never sneak up on me, right?" Michiru said quietly.

"I know. I enjoy it when you can see me coming." Haruka replied coyly.

"I do too as some things shouldn't be left hidd…" Michiru started to say.

Her playful flirt trailed off as she felt her Deep Aqua Mirror begin to react to something. She quickly turned her attention back to the delicate item in her hands and focused her attention on the image flashing across its ancient glass surface. Haruka, who was still in the doorway, looked down at Michiru as her face changed from a playful smirk to concern. She stepped towards her partner and waited for her to report on what the sacred treasure was telling her.

"What did you see?" Haruka asked with concern in her voice.

"An image of Haneda Airport I think." Michiru informed her.

"So something is coming through the airport then? Do you know when?" Haruka pressed.

Michiru looked up at her and the look in her eyes told the answer. Haruka gritted her teeth and clenched her fists at her sides. Her tough sailor persona began to break through as her sense of duty to protect the princess and this planet took full control of her thoughts. She still needed confirmation of the details so that she and the other Outer Sailors could begin to formulate a plan. Michiru seemed to read her mind and gave her what she wanted.

"In the image I saw a digital advertisement sign. The time displayed was 9:45am and the date was tomorrow."

Haruka's face tightened as that information settled deep inside her. It was almost 11:00pm which meant that they had less than twelve hours to design a plan against something they knew absolutely nothing about.

Michiru stood with grim expression that matched her lover's. She took one of Haruka's hands and held it tenderly to try and soften the frustration she could see was building up inside Haruka. When their eyes met, they shared a brief moment of silent reassurance, they would meet this potential threat head on as they always did. Haruka gave a small smile before they both turned around and walked back into the house to inform their team mates about their mission tomorrow morning.

End of Chapter 6


	8. An unwelcomed homecoming

1Chapter 7: An unwelcomed homecoming

In his hidden headquarters, deep within the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Apachite watched with great satisfaction at the latest round of news reports from around the world. All of his careful manipulations over the past seventeen years were finally starting to produce ripened fruit. Earth was plunging deeper and deeper into the abyss and its appointed leaders were too distracted with their petty issues to realize that the real threat, the resurrected Dark Kingdom, was the true cause of all their misery.

He heard Ninjana's footsteps behind him long before she got within speaking range. He smiled cruelly to himself as he let his mind remind him what her arrival meant. He had seen the news report a few minutes ago about the explosion in downtown London. The newscaster had reported that police and emergency service workers had begun to shift through the rubble and were finding numerous bodies of people that had been trapped inside. At the time of the report the body count was confirmed at ten but the aerial shots they had used showed far more black body bags being taken away. Apachite spun around as his smile grew with extreme glee.

"Excellent work Ninjana! In two swift strokes, we have managed to eliminate the only human threat to our glorious Dark Kingdom. Our victory is almost completely assured now."

Ninjana stopped her approach a few feet away from her master. She leaned forward into a respectful bow and placed her right fist over the place where her heart would have been if she were human. Although most of her face was covered by her mask and headband the expression in her eyes was speaking volumes. She had a look of remorse, though, that Apachite noticed. His smile quickly faded as he gritted his teeth when he realized that she had actually come to inform him of something negative.

"What is it Ninjana? Answer me now."

"Master Apachite, we have eliminated the Inner Council of the Illuminati, their identities confirmed before we slew them. As you have most undoubtedly seen by now we have also destroyed their headquarters and killed everyone inside personally before detonating the explosive charges. As per your orders, we have assassinated over six hundred operatives around the world and effectively removed any chance of a counter-attack."

"All good things my loyal lieutenant! However, that does not explain your current demeanour. What are you not telling me?"

"One of our minions reported seeing the super operative known as Carnage outside the Council building just before the blast."

Apachite sneered at the mention of that name, and turned so that his back faced his lieutenant as he mulled over this new information. Ever since the fall of the original Dark Kingdom at the hands of Sailor Moon and the Sailor Soldiers he had been keeping an extremely close eye on them. However, they weren't the only ones he had been watching. The monsters that Queen Beryl had sent out on that fateful night to destroy the SSailors' home city had met with an unexpected bit of resistance from of the SSailors' ally, Carnage.

When it was clear that Queen Beryl and Metalia had been defeated Apachite had sent out a retreat signal to all of them to come to his base or be destroyed by Carnage or the Silver Crystal. Fortunately, for everyone involved, the monsters wisely chose to withdraw to the safety of his hidden base. Those surviving members of Queen Beryl's court made up his army. Nevertheless, many of them still became visibly anxious or angry when Carnage was brought up. He had hoped that Ninjana would have eliminated him during her search and destroy mission with the Council's international operatives but it appeared that he had been able to slip through their fingers.

"Was he killed by the blast?"

"I am afraid not Master. Our scout reported seeing him alive minutes after the blast and I have confirmed reports of a plane registered to the Council taking off approximately forty minutes later and heading east."

"Dammit! He's heading to Japan to rejoin the Sailor Soldiers. If that happens, their combined powers could prove disastrous for us."

"What would you like me to do Master?"

Apachite spun around to look at her. His eyes became black and lifeless. They were the eyes of a person that had absolutely no humanity left in their body. His gaze sent a chill down Ninjana's spine as she wondered if she had just misspoken and was about to feel her master's wrath.

"You will do nothing! Carnage has seen you as well as the original Sailor Soldiers. If you engage them in battle they will know the Dark Kingdom still exists and that will make them extremely dangerous. We are so close to achieving our final victory that we cannot afford to make such a careless error like that pompous fool, Beryl.

Send one of our most formidable monsters to the airport to welcome Carnage back to Japan when he lands. Have him eliminated quickly before he can make contact with any of the Sailor Soldiers. Understood?"

"Yes Master! It shall be done at once."

Ninjana turned and marched quickly out of the throne room. Her boot steps echoed off the thick stone walls surrounding the quiet tunnels of their base. After she had teleported and left him by himself again Apachite tried to calm down. He returned his attention to the bank of television monitors. He had complete faith in his lieutenant as she had not failed him as of yet. She would ensure that Carnage would be eliminated quickly, leaving only the Sailor Soldiers and Tuxedo Mask to deal with. Having ten enemies was better than eleven.

The next morning at Haneda Airport, Haruka and the other Outer Sailor Soldiers were positioned in the centre of the main lobby. They were standing along a rail on the second floor as they looked down at the masses of people moving through the lobby below. From this location they had the largest view of all of the new arrivals and had easy access to any of the side terminals. They were still in their civilian clothing as they did not watch to attract any attention from the general public. It was also a precaution so it wouldn't scare away the enemy that Michiru's Deep Aqua Mirror had warned them about.

Setsuna and Hotaru had been visibly concerned when Haruka and Michiru had informed them of the ominous warning. They had all stayed up late to speculate on what the possible threat could be and how to deal with it. To the best of their combined knowledge all of their previous enemies, such as the Dead Moon Circus and the Death Busters, had been killed or purified by Sailor Moon and the Silver Crystal. Sailor Galaxia and her Shadow Galactica empire had been completely dismantled and all the Sailor Animamates that had been under her control had been freed and returned to their home planets. Another fact that dismissed the notion that it was Sailor Galaxia, or one of their previous enemies, was that they wouldn't take the time to take an airplane when they could simply teleport.

They had all come to the agreement that this was a new enemy, and as such, they needed to be careful on their approach. They had all died during the final battle with Sailor Galaxia in the Sailor Wars, and they were not anxious to repeat that experience.

Haruka checked her watch for the fourth time since they arrived almost thirty minutes ago. It informed her that it was currently 9:35am. Michiru's mirror image had said the threat would arrive at 9:45am. She narrowed her eyes and scanned the crowds of people below, looking for anything or anyone that appeared out of place.

"Everyone be on alert. Our enemy could already be here and be mixed in with the innocent people down there."

The other Outer Sailors nodded their heads. They each took a direction and scanned the crowds, using their keen and heightened senses to detect anyone with a higher than normal energy level or anything that they deemed suspicious.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the airport, another small group of young people entered the busy lobby. To the casual observer the group might appear to be nothing more than a group of friends possibly meeting someone at the airport. An experienced human behaviourist might immediately recognize that these young girls were acting like close friends to the obvious romantic couple and nothing more.

"Really Usa-ko! You didn't need to come with me this morning."

"Mamo-chan! I love spending time with you even if it's just to pick up a teacher from America."

Behind them, Minako rolled her eyes and made a sarcastic face. The other girls snickered when they saw it as the sappiness of Usagi's statement.

"I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the last time you were in an airport, you were killed by a galactic overlord." Minako whispered under her breath.

"Idiot! You're not supposed to say that out loud." Rei whispered leaning in close to Minako's ear.

"That is why we agreed to come with them today, in case something happened, but only under the veil that we were hanging out with Usagi later." Makoto quietly added.

Usagi missed the quiet conversation occurring behind her as she continued to stare lovingly at Mamoru. The past month had been full of wonderful memories between her, her lover, and all of her friends. She had spent an entire day with the other Outer Sailors and taken a group picture of all of them together that she had pinned up on her bedroom's pegboard. She had taken plenty of pictures of her and her best friends as well. Her two favourite pictures were the ones that Minako had taken of Luna, Artemis, and her napping, and the group shot where Rei was stretching her cheeks out playfully.

The highlight of the past month, without question, was her first date with Mamoru following the defeat of Sailor Galaxia and the Shadow Galactica Empire. It had been a grueling series of months since Usagi first encountered Sailor Iron Mouse, the first of Sailor Galxia's lieutenants, and the phage she created out of a movie actress. It was during that battle that Usagi learned of the existence of the Sailor Starlights, a trio of sailor warriors from another galaxy. It was through them that Usagi learned of Sailor Galaxia's plan to capture every Sailor crystal, known as 'star seeds' and rule the known universe. When the rest of the sailors learned of this new stronger enemy, they were given a gift from the future by Neo-Queen Serenity in the form of a new transformation and power upgrade. This endowment gave them access to their 'eternal' forms and their most powerful attacks.

The battle only intensified as Sailor Iron Mouse was replaced first with Sailors Aluminum Siren and Lead Crow and then Sailor Tin Nyanko. When it came time for the final battle against Sailor Galaxia, the Inner Sailors sacrificed themselves to protect Usagi and the Sailor Starlights. In the end, it came down to Sailor Moon facing Sailor Galaxia one on one. Her refusal to fight back against her opponent and her unbreakable belief that there was still good inside Galaxia ultimately won out, causing the entity of chaos to be expelled from Galaxia's body.

The release of chaos back into the hearts of everyone and the purification of Sailor Galaxia also freed the captured star seeds and resurrect the sailor warriors that they belonged to; including all of Usagi's friends. The Sailor Starlights left Earth shortly after to rebuild what Galaxia had destroyed when she attacked their home planet. The following night was when Usagi and Mamoru had their long awaited date after several months.

It had been a beautiful autumn night after an afternoon of light rain. The sky was clear and a full moon shined brightly above them. Usagi fondly remembered asking him what he liked about her. His simple response to her question had made her feel warm inside and cast out any lingering pain that she had been feeling all when she had been doubting his love for her.

"So Mamoru, this professor has come all this way just to see you?"

Ami's question snapped Usagi out of her thoughts and she turned her head to look at her over her shoulder. She gave her a look that said she had ruined the pleasant daydream. Ami gave her a small smile as her cheeks turned a bright red showcasing her inner shyness and embarrassment. She silently apologized to Usagi.

Mamoru either didn't see the exchange between them or purposely chose to ignore it. He was silent for a few seconds before answering Ami's question. The other girls continued to follow closely behind.

"Yes he is. When I called the university in America and explained to them what had, they were very sympathetic. They passed along my message to the professor I would have studied under, and he was apparently very delighted to hear back from me. He called me a few days ago to discuss my research thesis and wanted to meet with me as soon as possible and possibly give me a second chance to study abroad."

"That would be amazing if they gave you that chance. You would be able to try for your dream again!"

Usagi frowned and turned her eyes away from Mamoru. It was no secret that she wasn't the biggest fan of him studying abroad, because she would miss him terribly. However, she loved him enough to know that she couldn't stop him from pursuing his passion and dreams. It would be unfair of her to ask that of him. She looked up at him and prepared herself to voice a show of support.

As she began to formulate the correct sentences something cut through like a sharp knife. A sound that she had been hoping she wouldn't be hearing again for a long, long time. It was the sound of people screaming in terror.

At the first occurrence of the clearly negative situation, Mamoru and the girls went into high alert. Their bodies tensed and their faces became focused and devoid of the happy and pleasant emotions. Usagi let go of Mamoru's arm and prepared herself for whatever was causing the disturbance to reveal itself to them.

The screaming continued to get louder and was followed shortly by a massive stampede of people running passed them to get to the exits. The panicked expressions served to only confirm that there was something definitely bad and dangerous going on.

Usagi spun her head around to look back at her friends. The look she gave them was not one of her characteristic bubbly expressions, but serious and mature. It was a look they had all seen several times before when Usagi channeled her identity as Princess Serenity, former princess of the Moon Kingdom and the future Queen of the Earth, or Neo-Queen Serenity. Immediately, the girls readied themselves for battle.

"Let's go Sailors!" Usagi said as she looked over her shoulder at the others behind her.

Usagi, Mamoru and the girls all broke out into a sprint as they cut through the remaining people fleeing from whatever monstrosity was causing havoc somewhere ahead.

_Here we go again_ Usagi thought to herself as she weaved through the crowds of panicking people.

Somewhere ahead, the scene that had started the massive exodus continued to play out. It resembled a tense standoff as a large monster threatened and intimidated a young man. The beast was humanoid, walking upright on two legs. It had dark brown skin and short black stubble on its head. When it first appeared it had been wearing a white dress shirt, blue trousers and black shiny shoes so it could blend it with the crowds of people around it. When its target had been sighted, it reverted back to its original size and shape. It grew to an imposing 7-foot-2 in height. The blue pants and black shoes stretched with the increase in size but still remained intact. The white dress shirt ripped completely apart until only a few thin strands remained and hung loosely across the monster. Rings of white fabric encircled the monster's wrists where its unholy features had not shredded the delicate material. The most striking feature was the cluster of two foot long spikes that erupted from its upper back. These spikes glowed with a yellow-green shine. There were smaller spikes protruding from its shoulders which also glowed the same eerie colour.

The creature's head vaguely resembled a human's. Its symmetry was fairly correct, but on a much larger scale. Its eyes glowed with a demonic yellow light matching the yellowish hue radiating from the boney spikes. Its upper body was impossibly huge and covered with thick layers of dense muscle. The overall size of its torso gave the beast's head a tiny appearance.

The beast pointed one of its long claws at the young man, who had not ran off or made any attempt to hide or flee. He was standing his ground and appeared to be unafraid of this monstrous abomination threatening his personal safety.

"You! I am here to get revenge for the ones that have fallen by your hand!" The monster snarled.

"You will need to be more specific! There have been many." The young man coolly replied back.

The monster became enraged at the callous tone in the response. It charged at him dropping its shoulder so that the spikes in its shoulders were poised to impale. In one fluid motion, the man effortlessly rolled out of the path of the monster's rapid advance. The momentum of its attack caused the monster to continue on until it collided with a newsstand kiosk. Pieces of newspaper and magazine launched upwards as the stand broke in two.

The young man finished his evasive roll and spun around maintaining a low stance. He kept his eyes fixated on his attacker. When the beast emerged from behind the remnants of the newsstand he quickly transformed into his battle armour. Long red strands of elastic looking material sprouted from his lower back and wrapped themselves completely around him, covering him from head to toe. His head became almost featureless except for a huge mouth filled with black teeth and two large white teardrop eyes. His body increased in size, becoming more muscular and defined. Thin strands of his red free-flowing skin jutted out from his main body and lightly hovered around him waiting for a target to present itself. In less than ten seconds, the young man had become the hero, Carnage.

The beast's huge muscles flexed which caused the veins underneath its thin layer of external skin to bulge at the sight of its target changing his appearance. Its mouth sneered as it showed off its white jagged teeth. The glow from its solid yellow eyes flashed a few shades brighter. Carnage could tell it was about to launch another attack. He poised himself to be ready to move.

"Stop right there." A stern feminine voice called out from somewhere above them.

The beast stopped its attack preparations and tilted his head up to look at the upper level. Carnage risked a glance as well. He did not recognize the voice as belonging to either Usagi or any of the other girls. He trained his white eyes to where the voice had come from and saw four silhouettes as they stood on top of the flat railing that surrounded the edge of the upper level. He didn't recognize the shapes as belonging to any of his friends.

"Guarded by Uranus, planet of the skies, I'm the Soldier of flight, Sailor Uranus!"

"Guarded by Neptune, planet of the deep blue sea, I'm the Soldier of affinity, Sailor Neptune!"

"Guarded by Pluto, planet of time, I am the Soldier of revolution, Sailor Pluto!"

"My guardian is the planet of silence. I'm the Soldier of death and rebirth, Sailor Saturn!"

Carnage gave himself a small smile as the four female warriors finished their introductions. Apparently the Sailor team had been busy locating the remaining members of the Solar System's guardians. With the loss of the Illuminati Council, it was a welcomed sight to see that there were still warriors out there that were willing to help him defend this planet.

The four newly introduced Sailor Soldiers dropped to the main floor between Carnage and the monster, and quickly got into their individual battle stances. Carnage noticed that they were eying him in the same manner as the beast attacking him. He couldn't blame them at all for the misunderstanding, given his current physical appearance. This turn of events complicated matters greatly for him as he now had to defend himself on two fronts, the beast and now the SSailors, if they engaged him. The pounding of something heavy snapped his focus back and he frog-jumped out of the way as the beast charged at him again. Most of the small group of Sailor warriors scattered to the sides to avoid the monster's stampede except.

Sailor Uranus stood her ground as she raised her right arm and opened her hand. In an instant, she collected a large sum of energy into her hand. Tightly clenching her fist closed she slammed it into the ground. The impact released the mass of energy toward the rapidly approaching monster.

"World Shaking!" She yelled as the energy left her body.

The release of energy from her hand tunneled through the ground like a drill before lifting up and forming into a large yellow orb. The energy sphere struck the beast square in the chest abruptly stopping its rapid advance. The force sent the monster back into the rubble of the newsstand further destroying whatever was left of it. In less than a minute, the creature was back on its feet and getting ready to charge forward again. Sailor Uranus prepared herself for its next attack as her partner, Sailor Neptune, tried her primary offensive attack.

She raised both hands above her head. Using her dominance over water she collected all the water vapour particles in the air around her. She merged the hydro particles together into one large swirling mass of water between her raised hands before transforming it into a sphere of blue energy. She then threw her arms down and effectively threw the energy sphere at the beast.

"Deep Submerge!"

Just like the last attack, the blast hit the monster square in its barrel shaped torso and sent it staggering a few yards. However, like her partner's, her attack did not seem to inflict any serious damage.

"This is bad. We need to weaken it somehow!" Sailor Uranus flatly stated.

"Perhaps you need to exercise more." Sailor Neptune replied with playful smirk.

"Maybe, but we will worry about that later when we are alone." Sailor Uranus countered.

With the completion of Sailor Uranus' playful comment, she and Sailor Neptune both charged at the creature with the intention to engage it in hand-to-hand combat. Meanwhile, their team mates, Sailor Pluto and Saturn, were currently squaring off against the other monster present.

Sailor Saturn spun her long-staffed glaive in a series of fierce arches that cleaved through the air with deadly speed. Carnage dared not attempt to block any of her swings with one of his limbs, or even a symbiotic tendril, for fear of amputation of the appendage. His symbiote partner gave him an accelerated healing factor that had saved his life many times in the past, but he had never tested it to that degree before. He knew that there were limits to even what his partner could do, and he did not want to test those boundaries just to see if his symbiote could regrow his arm. The loss of a limb with a reckless or even a properly executed defensive move would severely limit his fighting abilities. He evaded her swings and tried to knock her off her feet when an opening presented itself. He had to convince the Sailors that he was on their side and clear up this misunderstanding so they could assist the others against the real enemy.

"Dead Scream!"

The sudden announcement alerted Carnage, and he jumped to avoid the pink sphere of energy launched by Sailor Pluto. The blast had come from behind, and with his body's current absence from where it had been aimed at, the energy orb continued on directly toward Sailor Saturn. Even with her augmented speed and agility, she had no time to react and braced her glaive in front of her so that it would take the brunt of the hit.

"Sailor Saturn!"

The yell of warning from Pluto came too late. The energy sphere hit Sailor Saturn dead centre in the chest. The force of the blast sent her hurdling upwards and back in a large arch. Her glaive fell from her loose fingers and headed to the ground as she sailed through the air. Sailor Pluto could only watch as her partner and friend began her descent downwards. As she prepared herself for the sickening thud that would signal Saturn's body hitting the ground, a flash of red caught her attention.

Carnage was swinging down to the spot where Sailor Saturn was going to land. His right arm was stretched upwards and wrapped tightly around one of the horizontal steel girders that ran across the ceiling fifty feet above them. The timing and arch of his swing would allow him to intercept Sailor Saturn just before she hit the hard linoleum floor.

He managed to grab her with his left arm before letting go of the steel girder. As his arm retracted back to its normal length he supported her as he landed on the balls of his feet with his knees bent to absorb the impact of their combined landing. He cradled her in his arms as he patiently waited for her to regain consciousness. At the same time, a thick tendril extended out and retrieved her glaive.

Sailor Pluto saw this and interpreted it to mean that this monster was going to kill Sailor Saturn with her weapon. She thrusted out her staff and the red jewel at the top began to glow brightly. Like her other partners' attacks, she collected energy from around her and used the precious stone as the focal point. When enough energy had been harvested, the same neon pink sphere appeared again. She planted her white boots against the ground and prepared herself to shoot the sphere at the red abomination holding onto her friend.

"Sailor Pluto!"

The sudden outburst startled her and she abruptly paused in her attack sequence. She turned and saw her Princess, the Inner Sailor Soldiers, and Mamoru arriving on the scene. The girls and Mamoru quickly scanned the area to take in what was going on. When they saw who was holding Sailor Saturn each of their individual bodies froze in place. It seemed only fitting that Makoto was the one to announce to everyone who the identity of the red-skinned figure was.

"Carnage!"

Usagi saw that Sailor Pluto was still poised to attack and the energy sphere was still present at the end of her staff. She had to do something to stop the attack before Carnage, Sailor Saturn, or both were caught in the ensuing blast. She lunged from the rest of the group with her hand outstretched.

"Sailor Pluto! Stop! He is one of us. He is a defender of this planet."

"What?"

Sailor Pluto turned her head again to look at her princess and then back at the being Makoto had called Carnage. Carnage helped Saturn, who had regained consciousness, to her feet. He then handed her glaive back to her and dropped to one knee in a show of complete surrender. This gesture left him totally at her mercy and was meant to show her and her partner that he was no threat to them.

Sailor Saturn stared at him with a hard look as she tried to decide whether to trust her princess or finish him off while his guard was down. She knew that her princess had a gentle heart and believed that there was good in almost everyone. More than once in the past this belief had gotten her and the people around her into some dire situations that had almost, on a few occasions, led them to being seriously hurt or killed. She planted the bottom of her glaive's staff onto the ground and held it up with one hand. She extended her other arm. Carnage graciously accepted it, and allowed her to help him to his feet, in a gesture that told everyone that she was honouring her princess' request. Sailor Pluto likewise aborted her attack and disbursed the collected energy safely into the surrounding environment before lowering her weapon.

The silence between them was short-lived as the unmistakable sound of something getting hit echoed throughout the empty terminal. It was followed closely by a loud grunt that everyone, but Carnage, recognized as belonging to Sailor Uranus. A higher pitch yelp came next that could only have come from Sailor Neptune. Both of them fell into view from behind a wide set of escalators. The creature stomped into view and allowed the Inner Sailors to finally catch a glimpse of the real enemy. Without wasting another second, Usagi looked over her shoulder at her friends and Mamoru.

"Ready Sailors? It's our turn to enter this fight."

The girls all nodded and quickly produced their transformation wands from their various bags and pockets. Usagi in turn, waved her hand over the brooch pinned to the centre of her blouse. The small piece of jewelry began to glow and flash in a sequence of tiny colourful strobe lights.

Mamoru reached into his green sports jacket and produced a single red rose. The rose began to emit a black light that completely engulfed him and obscured everyone's view of him. The girls each raised their round-crystal adorned rods to the sky above their heads and shouted their individual transformation phrases.

"Magellan Castle of Venus Make up!"

"Io Castle of Jupiter Make-up!"

"Phobos Deimos Castle of Mars Make-up!"

"Marina Castle of Mercury Make-up!"

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Make-Up!"

High above the airport four twinkling stars appeared in the mid-morning sky. Each star was illuminated in a different colour: orange, green, red and blue. As they made their presences visually known a semi-transparent beam poured down from each of them and surrounded each of the Inner Sailors. A series of bright light flashes instantly followed that shined throughout the entire corridor of the airport as the five individuals each underwent a spectacular transformation. Carnage was mesmerized as he watched because it was different than the dozens of times he had witnessed the transformations before. He could feel the increase in power that radiated out of each of the girls from where he was standing. When it was completed and the bright and colourful strobe lights began to fade the resulting sight caused him to hold his breath in surprise and awe.

The four Inner Sailor Soldiers were wearing uniforms that were similar in appearance to the ones he remembered but there were some clear differences. The first things he noticed were the round shoulder sleeves that were a pastel shade of the individual Sailor's dominant colour, the longer white gloves that extended past their elbow to about the mid-bicep. On their legs were knee high white boots that were topped with a thin rim of the Sailor's dominant colour, and a gold star in the front. A two layered skirt that had a thin ribbon border along the waist line and another gold star on its front completed the largest of the new changes. As he continued to stare in awe at them he noticed that each of them were wearing a pair of star-shaped earrings and the stones that made up the jewels in their tiaras and chest brooches were now shaped like stars.

It would later be explained to him that during the era of the Silver Millennium, each of the Sailor Soldiers had been the princess of their respective guardian planets. When each of them had been born Queen Serenity had bestowed a magnificent castle that orbited each of their planets to reside in during the periods of time when they were not guarding the Moon Princess or if situations required them to return home to their own kingdoms. As they had learned during their final battle with the leader of the Dead Moon Circus, Queen Nehelenia, they could draw power from these castles and achieve their ultimate form, their Eternal Sailor identities. Their castles were named after one of their planet's moons, which in turn, had been named after honoured warriors of their kingdom's history.

Sailor Moon's transformation was as equally magnificent as her guardians'. Her spherical shoulder sleeves were a bright pink, and her tunic collar navy blue with three yellow lines running along its interior edge. Her skirt had three layers with yellow, red and blue in descending order. Like the other Sailors, her boots were now white and had a thin red rim along the top, but had a diamond in front as opposed to a star. Her white gloves also extended past her elbow to rest on her upper arm. The most striking feature of her outfit was the twin pairs of large angelic wings that were attached to her back. The larger set of wings sprouted from the middle of her back while the smaller pair replaced the red back bow that she had on her previous uniform. The wings appeared to be solid and stiff making them incapable of flapping but still gave the vague appearance of looking like butterfly wings. On both of her gloves, at her wrists, a thin red piece of fabric was wrapped around like a bracelet. Her tiara was gone and in its place was a golden crescent moon which Carnage's symbiote recognized as being the symbol of the Silver Millennium's Moon Kingdom.

Tuxedo Mask's costume had remained the same in terms of appearance since Carnage had last seen him. His long flowing red and black cape was attached to his black jacket by a pair of large gold buttons. The tuxedo that he wore was still elegant and in a style that echoed back to the golden days of chivalry and nobility. The three gold buttons that ran down either side of his jacket only served to further that regality. His white dress shirt and vest with the matching white bowtie completed the suit. The top hat on his head with its wide rim and the white silk gloves cemented the appearance of a Victorian era English gentleman that used to walk the streets of London many decades ago.

As the girls and Mamoru finished their transformations, the creature turned its head to look at the Inner Sailors and Carnage. Its yellow eyes narrowed and the evil sneer reappeared across its face as it set its sight back on Carnage. It immediately turned its body and began to storm towards him as it backhanded a steel bench situated in its path. The bench immediately split in two as the power of the creature's blow ripped through the thick metal bolts that secured it to the floor.

Sailor Saturn and Pluto were the next obstacles in the creature's path, the destruction of the bench not slowing it down for a second. Fortunately, the jagged metallic pieces of the bench were thrown in their direction. This caused the two warriors to quickly move to the left and right to avoid being cut or sliced by the flying shrapnel.

"Enough playing around! It's time to rip you to pieces!"

"Hold it right there!"

The monster stopped its advance and turned to see the newest obstacles preventing it from completing its mission. It looked at the row of five warriors gathered about twenty feet away. It turned to directly faced them and flexed its large muscles.

"Hey you muscle bound sleazebag! How dare you attack someone that is so important to us! I can't forgive you for assaulting our friend and ruining his long overdue homecoming to his friends. I stand for love and justice. The pretty SSailor Suited SoldierSoldier, I am Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

"We are the SSailor Suited SSoldiers and we will also punish you!"

"Are you done yet? I have no time to deal with insects like you. Leave now and you will get to live a little while longer."

With that bold statement, the creature turned back to face Carnage. It took a few more steps towards him causing loud thuds to echo throughout the area. Carnage bent his knees and leapt forward. As his momentum carried him, he outstretched his arms and morphed his fingers into serrated blades. He impaled the razor-sharp points all the way inside the monster's midsection until his entire fingers were inside. He hoped to hit a vital organ or something important that would give them a definitive edge against their strong adversary.

Instead, he became stuck as something inside the beast prevented him from pulling his fingers out. This was the worst possible position for him to be in, leaving him completely defenseless against the creature's blows from its heavy arms. The monster reached back and struck Carnage across the side of his head once with each of its rock hard fists. His symbiote took most of the impact but underneath Sean could feel his brain vibrating inside his skull and taste blood as the power of the creature's punches rocked his human body. The beast then reached down and grabbed Carnage's throat with one hand, and lifted him up with relative ease. Carnage's fingers pulled out from the beast and a thin stream of yellow fluid seeped from the resulting holes. It then placed its other hand over the front of his knees and launched him over its head. Carnage sailed through the open space as he rolled around in mid-air until he was upside down. He struck the side of a thick concrete pilla before dropping to the ground and landing hard on his head.

"Big mistake pal!"

Sailor Jupiter lunged forward as soon as she saw Carnage hit the ground. She lifted her arms and crossed her wrists above her head. Several trails of pink flower petals abruptly appeared behind each of her hands. The lines of petals began to trace circles in the air as they moved downward to encircle and spin around her entire body. After a few seconds, she began to spin on her feet extending her left hand toward the creature. This motion sent the flurry of razor-sharp pink flower petals hurdling at the beast with the sole intention of cutting it to ribbons.

"Flower Hurricane," she screamed as the petals rocketed forward.

The beast crossed its thick arms over its face to shield it from the floral onslaught. The petals sailed past cutting deep gashes along the thick muscled forearms and tree trunk legs. From beneath its arms, grunts could be heard as Sailor Jupiter's brutal assault continued. In less than a minute, the last of the sharp-edged petals made contact with the inhuman flesh before disappearing into thin air. A thick-looking neon yellow substance that matched the colour of its eyes and bone spikes oozed out of the numerous wounds. When it was clear that the attack was over, the creature put down its arms and lifted its head to look directly at Sailor Jupiter. The look it was giving her was one of pure malice and hatred.

"That hurt you little bitch! I have had enough of your sass. It's my turn now."

The monster tilted his body backwards as it threw its arms out to its sides. Its lower back arched as his eyes stared straight up at the ceiling. The spikes on its back and shoulders began to glow brighter and the smell of ozone began to quickly fill the area. From somewhere inside its body, a surge of blue-white electricity started to be visibly generated. The electric currents it produced danced and arched visibly across its body as it righted itself and once again stood fully upright. In a flash of movement it threw its arms up over its head before slamming them down against the floor. This sent a huge wave of lightning through the ground and straight at the group of young warriors.

The Sailors and Tuxedo Mask jumped in every direction as the bioelectric wave reached the spot they had just been. The force and heat of the blast caused the hard linoleum floor crack and melt. The sight and smell of the melted floor from such a violent attack caused Sailor Moon to scream out in terror as the reality of almost being cooked alive hit her.

Carnage saw the Sailors and Tuxedo Mask jump clear of the blast zone causing him to breathe a short sigh of relief. He had regained consciousness just as the monster was about to unleashed its attack. He had luckily been far enough away from it that the electric wave dissipated before it reached him. When he heard Sailor Moon's resulting scream and Tuxedo Mask's shout of encouragement to get up and keep fighting following shortly after as he picked himself off the ground he allowed himself a small smile.

_At least some things haven't changed since I've been away._

He snapped his attention back to the creature just as Sailor Uranus and Neptune came back into his line of sight after having just recovered enough to rejoin the battle. He took special notice that Sailor Uranus was now holding a short bejeweled sword in her hand that he hadn't seen when she and the others had first arrived. The rest of the Sailors took positions around the beast to encircle it in an offensive perimeter and try to contain it. One after the other they launched their strongest individual attacks.

"Flame Sniper!"

"Submarine Reflection!"

"Space Sword Blaster!"

"Oak Evolution!"

"Aqua Rhaposdy!"

"Love and Beauty Shock!"

"Dead Scream!"

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"

Each attack struck the monster causing massive concussive forces to be unleashed as the collateral damage the power blasts created kicked up any loose debris and dirt. This obscured their view of what was going on in the centre of their trap. With the completion of Sailor Moon's attack, they maintained their positions and waited anxiously for the dust cloud to disperse. Carnage joined the circle and took a position between Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Uranus.

It felt wonderful to be around Sailor Jupiter again. He could smell her rose oil perfume despite the strong musty odours that were all around. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch her, but stopped himself from doing so. This was neither the time nor the place for such a gesture. He also couldn't deny the fact that he had been gone for over a year and a half. He had little idea what had happened in her personal life aside from the phone conversations they had shared and the reports and gossip he heard from other Council members. It was entirely possible that she had met someone else during that time and hadn't told him because she couldn't find the right words to do so. If that was indeed the case he would have to do whatever was right for the both of them, even if that meant leaving Tokyo again.

A warning inside his head snapped his eyes and focus back to the centre of the circle. The symbiote's senses were much more acute than a normal person's, even augmented humans such as the SSailors and Tuxedo Mask. It was screaming inside his head that danger was coming and at an impossibly fast speed.

Carnage yelled out a warning to everyone present as he threw his arms out to the side and pushed Sailor Jupiter and Uranus forward to the ground.

"Everyone get down!"

The Inner Sailors didn't hesitate at all as they trusted Carnage completely. Sailors Mercury, Mars, and Venus dove to the ground and got as flat as their bodies would allow. Sailors Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn were slower to react as they did not have the level of trust that the other Sailors had. Their eyes flashed to the sides as they watched the Inner Soldiers drop to the ground before returning back to the centre. The cloud of debris had cleared enough that they could see the creature was crouched low to the ground. A lime green semitransparent force field was surrounding it, which had clearly protected it against their awesome combined assault. The two foot long spikes on its back had become noticeably more rigid as it abruptly lifted its shoulders like a bucking bronco. The boney spikes twitched before shooting out in all directions like deadly flying spears.

Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn twisted their bodies as fast as they could but still received several moderate flesh wounds as the barbed edges of the organic spikes sliced passed them. The other Sailors remained un-harmed as the blades sailed harmlessly over them. Carnage released the pressure he was exerting to keep Uranus and Jupiter down. He looked up towards the monster and saw that the boney spikes on its back were quickly regenerating. Within the span of a few seconds they had grown to their original size and replaced the ones that were now embedded in the walls making up the outer perimeter of the battle area. They had to find a way to end this quickly or someone could be skewered if they allowed their opponent to use that attack again.

Carnage quickly replayed the fight as it had happened thus far. He was trying to find some clue as to what this monster's weakness could be. Suddenly, a visual popped into his head as he remembered something. When the creature had used its bioelectric blast he had caught a glimpse of it staggering for a couple of seconds after, as if the massive energy attack had temporarily drained it. If they could get it to unleash another electric blast, that small window of opportunity might allow them to score a fatal blow. The only question was where exactly on its body did they need to strike. His earlier attack on the creature's midsection had wielded nothing but a sore back and a severe headache for him. It was clearly resistant to energy based attacks since it survived the Sailors' combined assault with its personal force field. However, it could still be hurt by physical attacks as seen when he impaled his claws inside it and when Sailor Jupiter used her Flower Hurricane attack. That had to be the answer!

The beast was more or less human shaped which might mean its body had the same design flaws. In theory, it had to have something that passed for a brain and if the yellow substance was indeed what constituted as blood, then it had to have a heart as well. A plan quickly formulated in his head as he quickly moved around the battle area to get the necessary pieces in place.

"Everyone, I have an idea! Tuxedo Mask, you and the Sailors need to distract it."

"Distract it? How are we going to do that?

"I don't know Sailor Moon. Use your imagination!"

Sailor Moon was about to offer a counter argument when Tuxedo Mask caught her attention with a flap of his cape. She closed her mouth and moved to join the others as they massed together to start buying the time Carnage needed to fulfill his plan. The Outer Sailors began to converge with the others as well when Carnage spoke up and addressed them directly.

"Not you, Uranus and Saturn. You are needed for the next part!"

Sailor Uranus stopped and narrowed her eyes as she gave him a hard stare. It was her nature to be suspicious of anyone that was clearly from outside their Solar System. It was, after all, her duty to protect their galaxy from intruders that came from systems and planets beyond Milky Way's boundaries. However, her princess had recently convinced her that things were not always so black and white. During the battle with Galaxia, it was through the assistance of the Sailor Starlights that allowed Usagi to hold out for as long as she did. She had no choice but to trust in her princess' judgment, and trust this red creature but after this battle was over, she and this 'ally' would have to have a long and serious conversation.

The other Sailors engaged the monster by once again encircling it and using the hit and run strategy to keep them at a safe distance. They were not sure what Carnage's plan was but they had faith that he indeed had one.

Tuxedo Mask threw a sharp pointed red rose that pierced the thick skin of the monster's right shoulder. It immediately reached up and pulled the rose free. The jagged thorns on the stem tore at the edges of the wound and the underside of its hand making the size of the injury bigger and causing more yellow fluid to spill out. Sailor Venus quickly followed up his attack by tossing her sharp edged boomerang at the beast so that it slashed across its mid-section.

"Crescent Boomerang!"

That attack caused the monster to lurch forward. It placed its hand over the wound where the same yellow fluid seeped out between its fingers. The flying weapon circled around in a tight arch before being snatched out of the air by Sailor Venus. The other Sailors maintained their positions around the creature. They were concentrating on containing it as Carnage had instructed.

Without saying a word the monster's back spikes twitched a few times before beginning to glow again. Just like before, the glow turned into a blinding display of light. The blue-white electric bolts appeared again as they arched and rippled across its body in an unpredictable pattern. The Sailors each prepared themselves for the impending electric ground wave. However, unlike before, they weren't grouped tightly together which meant that they would have more room to move and get clear of the electric wave's deadly radius. The creature's yellow eyes panned around at the various warriors surrounding it before it stopped and became fixated on Sailor Moon. In a blur of movement, it thrust its arms forward sending the electric barrage solely at her.

"Ahh!"

"Sailor Moon!"

Tuxedo Mask jumped over and grabbed her before launching both of them out of the way. The impact of the electric blast burned the bottom of his cape as they barely got clear of the danger zone. They both landed and rolled across the floor which put out any burning embers that still remained on their costumes before they could spread any further. When they stopped moving, they shared a brief second as Sailor Moon lay on top of him. Her bright blue eyes still filled with terror, hints of gratitude, and the undeniable love that she felt from being saved by her lover.

Carnage sprang into action as soon as the beast attacked Sailor Moon. He extended several long super-strong tendrils of symbiotic material at the beast. They wrapped around its arms and legs to effectively immobilize it. He planted his feet firmly to the ground and the symbiote reinforced their stability by sending several symbiotic spikes down into the ground to act like anchors. As soon as Carnage felt the strands go taut he looked back over his shoulder at Sailor Uranus and Saturn.

"Now! Both of you."

Sailor Uranus nodded her head in acknowledgement as she lifted her Space Sword and rushed forward. She plunged the blade of her sword into the area where she thought the creature's heart would be. Even if she didn't make direct contact with the vital organ, it would still buy them enough time for Sailor Saturn to complete her part of the plan. The creature roared as the sword slid in all the way to its hilt minimal resistance. The impalement of her sword into the monster put Sailor Uranus face to face with it. The smell of its rotting breath and intense stare from its glowing yellow eyes burned themselves deep into her psyche. She craned her eyes to the right which let her see her younger partner's rapid approach.

Sailor Saturn pranced forward as she twirled her long-staffed glaive over her head. Using the momentum generated by her weapon's spinning, she grabbed the shaft with both hands and swung the blade in a downward arch. As the twin blades of her glaive cleaved through the air Sailor Uranus put her right foot on the beast's chest and pushed back with her ample leg strength to pull the sword's blade from its body. She went into a backwards roll and stopped herself when she was right side up before placing one hand and knee on the ground to brace herself.

Sailor Saturn's blade cut through the monster's neck just as easily as Sailor Uranus' blade had pierced its chest cavity. The head popped off from the force of the swing and landed five feet away. Short frequent spurts of yellow liquid erupted from the stump of its neck. The body remained standing by Carnage's tendrils. After a few seconds, the body slowly began to crumble into a fine dust. As the monster's body finished disintegrating the tight strands of red organic material loosened and fell lightly to the ground.

Carnage retracted the strands back into his body as the Sailors and Tuxedo Mask approached him. He looked around at the collection of female warriors and their only other male ally. The looks he got from them ranged from excitement, Sailor Jupiter, to blank Sailor Mars and Pluto, to concerned, and suspicious Sailor Uranus and Neptune. The silence that surrounded all of them was quickly getting uncomfortable. He let a small smirk stretch across his wide mouth as he let a single sentence playfully escape his lipless mouth.

"It's good to be home!"

End of chapter 7…


	9. The Enemy Revealed

1Chapter Eight: The Enemy Revealed

"Master we have a problem."

Apachite lifted his head and looked where Ninjana was kneeling. He had been lost in deep thought and had only been mildly aware of his lieutenant's approach. He had been thinking about all that he had accomplished thus far and what still needed to be done before he could fully bask in the glory of his ultimate victory over the lowly humans that dominated this planet.

His plan was proceeding at a steady pace and the careful manipulations he had done had put several wondrous things into motion. Across the world riots were breaking out in countries such as Greece and Syria. People were dying by the hundreds in civil conflicts and wars in places like Libya and Egypt, and the sudden increase in natural disasters were keeping the global economy stressed as wealthy countries sent money and supplies to countries affected. The Japanese earthquake and resulting tsunami had been his most recent. After the success of the earlier Indonesian one, he had been anxiously awaiting an opportunity to create another and unleash it on a much more developed country. It seemed rather appropriate that he had chosen the home country of the Sailors as the lucky recipient.

Ninjana's words had cut through his pleasant recollection of that last memory and he blinked his brown eyes several times to focus on her. As her words registered he felt his mood rapidly sink as the notion of bad news at such a critical time in their overall plan firmly took hold inside him. His eyes narrowed into tiny slits as he stared at her.

"What is it?"

"Deadspike failed. The former Illuminati Council super-operative known as Carnage is still alive and has made contact with the Sailors and Tuxedo Mask.."

Apachite nearly broke her neck as the last words left her mouth. His body became hard with internal tension and his breathing became heavy with the seething rage that was rapidly building. He jumped out of his throne and stomped around the regal chair before spinning abruptly to face her again.

"Do you know what this means?"

Ninjana wisely kept silently. She was sure that her master's question was rhetorical and any response that she foolishly gave might insight a physical response against her. All she could do was lower her head and offer a silent apology as her sole act of contrition. Apachite continued to speak.

"It will only be a matter of time now before the Sailors learn of our existence and come looking for us. That makes them more dangerous than ever."

He lowered his head as he thought about what to do and how they could maintain their position. Ninjana didn't move but she too was thinking about what they should. She wanted to have some suggestions ready in case her master asked for any advice or counsel. It would not be in her best interests if she could not justify her existence to him in the wake of this disastrous failure.

"We will have to speed up our timetable. It is extremely risky but we have no choice now thanks to your bumbling."

Ninjana dared not protest or voice her displeasure at the brunt of blame being put solely on her. She was aware that she was partly responsible, since she had been the one to send Deadspike on the mission but she couldn't possibly have known that the entire Sailor team would be present in the airport at the same time. It was simply bad timing and unexpected variables that had caused the downward turn of the entire operation.

"How are we proceeding in terms of the next phase of our plan?"

Ninjana snapped her focus back and quickly formed an answer to her master's query. Her Soldiers had been jumping back and forth across the world to various locations as they continued to conduct the tasks that they needed for the next phase of their master plan. Their completion rate had been slowed down when they were pulled away to assist in the search and destroy campaign against the Illuminati and only now were beginning to make up for the lost time.

"We are about 75% complete my lord. We will have everything in place in approximately eight days.."

"That is not good enough Ninjana.. I want everything done in seventy-two hours.."

Ninjana wisely didn't voice any argument. Three days was not nearly long enough to complete what still needed to be done especially if they wanted to maintain the level of secrecy that Apachite had always demanded. All she could do was try her best to make it happen so not to face certain execution. She stood straight, placed her closed right fist over the left part of her chest, and bowed her head.

"Yes my lord. It will be done at once."

She turned to leave and strode out of the throne room. Her mind raced with ways to increase the rate of completion among the remaining Dark Kingdom servants. It would be difficult but she had no choice. She had been lucky to escape his wrath this time but she knew that if she failed again she would not be so fortunate.

In the Outer Sailors' Victorian house located just outside the main city limits of Tokyo, Haruka and company were sitting in the living room. The current topics being discussed were the arrivals of both Carnage and the new monster, as well as the implications of what their battle in the airport could mean for the overall safety of the planet.

"Our princess trusts him Haruka. We must respect her decree that he is an ally and not to be harmed in any way."

"I don't completely trust him Setsuna. He is clearly not from our Solar System. He could be a spy sent by some hostile world under the guise of a hero."

"Perhaps. However, he did save your life and for that he has my gratitude."

Haruka looked at Michiru and the warm smile she was giving her as she looked at her softened her tough exterior as only her lover could do. The look between them lasted for a few seconds before Haruka let a smirk play across her face as she finally surrendered to the majority's position on their red skinned saviour.

"Ok we will honour our Princess' wishes, for now. However the appearance of that other monster is surely a sign of a new enemy's emergence."

"I agree with you Haruka. Nevertheless, we still don't know anything about it. It did not offer any clues about itself other than being sent to eliminate Carnage. It did not seem overly concerned with us or even interested in killing at least not at first. That only confirms that there is a higher player somewhere that the monster answered to. Michiru has your magic mirror offered any more images that could help us?"

Michiru glanced over at her young leader, Hotaru, before looking down at her Deep Aqua Mirror and gazing into the reflective glass. A flash of light washed over its glass as an image became visible to her. The mirror was meant to work only with Michiru, and the power of the planet Neptune, as it was her own personal sacred talisman. This prevented any of the other Sailors from using it or seeing the pictures that it presented when it was used. This was also an important safety feature in case an enemy ever got a hold of it. All the other Sailors could do was watch Michiru's reaction and wait patiently for her to tell them what she had seen.

The flash of light faded and Michiru's face tensed and brow furrowed. She cradled the mirror against her chest like a mother holding her baby. The others could see that she was replaying the image in her head as she tried to make sense of it before attempting to describe it to them. After what seemed like minutes, she turned her head to address her team mates.

"The mirror only gave me a single image. A shadowy castle surrounded by darkness."

The ladies were silent as they considered what that image could mean. There were dozens of ways that they could interpret the image. It could be the enemy's stronghold, an abandoned castle located in some remote region on the planet. It could also be the final result of their enemy's plan.

There were simply too many different ways to read the image from the mirror without additional information. It would be a waste of valuable time for them to sit around and attempt to figure out the true meaning of the image without something more concrete to go on. As they all silently came to that conclusion, Hotaru came up with an idea on what they could do to possibly get them the information they needed and maybe some answers to the questions that currently plagued them. Her young face lit up as she caught the others' attention.

"We know that the monster was sent after Carnage only. He could be the key to learning who our enemy is. We should go and talk to him. "

Haruka and the others were silent as they considered her suggestion before nodding their heads. They all agreed with Hotaru's belief that Carnage could be the key to finding out more of their new enemy. Haruka reached over and picked up the black cordless phone located next to the couch she was sitting on. She began to dial a number from that she had only used a few times before in the past. When the other side picked up she couldn't hide her minor disappointment as she heard the voice of the person on the other end.

"Tsukino residence, Ikuko speaking."

"Hello is Usagi available?"

"Ohh I'm sorry she is out with her friends right now. May I ask who is calling?"

"This is her friend Haruka Tenoh."

"Oh. I have heard Usagi mention your name before. When she gets home, I will have her call you right away."

"That would be really nice of you. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Have a great day."

"You as well. Goodbye."

Haruka replaced the phone in its stand. All around her, her comrades were quiet as they each shared the same thought. Carnage, or more importantly, the human half of it would more than likely be with Usagi and the other girls right now. All they had to do was find out where they were. There were several locations that were strong candidates: the Crown Arcade Game Center or the Fruit Smoothie Parlour next door and the Azabu Juban. However, the care free nature of their younger team mates still made the list of possibilities almost infinite.

"Setsuna do you still have that communicator Ami gave you after the battle with Galaxia?"

Her friend looked up at her with a brief look of surprise. She hesitated for a moment before reaching into the right pocket of her dress jacket. From inside, she produced a medium sized cell phone. It was larger than most of the more popular models of phones that were currently out there. It was cotton candy pink and was made in the style of a traditional flip phone. This was one of the third generation models of the Sailor team communicator. The original design resembled a small hand-held calculator while the second was built into a wrist watch to blend in with their civilian identities.

Ami had given each of the Outer Sailors a communicator in the days that followed the fall of the Shadow Galactica Empire. This was purely meant as a precautionary measure in the, hopefully, unlikely event that another enemy suddenly appeared to threaten the people of Earth.

"Where is yours?"

"She left it with her motorcycle in the garage."

Haruka smirked as she glanced at her lover. Hotaru and Setsuna chuckled a little as they watched the expressive display between the two sole mates. Setsuna stretched her arm out and handed the phone-shaped communicator to Haruka. She accepted the sugar coloured device and settled back against the rear of the couch. She flipped it open and accessed the contacts menu. Scrolling down the short list of names, she quickly found the one she wanted. She pressed the activation button and put the phone close to her mouth. A few seconds later, there was a click as the other end picked up the call.

"Haruka? What is going on? Is something wrong?"

"We need to meet all of you, Ami. Let's meet at the Bayside Walkway at the spot where we gathered following our battle with Viluy."

"Ok. We will be there shortly."

Haruka snapped the communicator closed. She reached down and placed the device on the coffee table. The rest of her comrades remained silent as they continued to sit around the room. They hoped that this gathering would give them a direction to move in as this new threat and the enemy behind it was leaving them completely blind to its motivations and movements.

About an hour later, the group of young female warriors and their two male allies arrived at the Bayside Walkway as had been decided. It was a large manmade sidewalk that ran along the Tokyo Bay and was about a mile and half long. The particular spot along the sidewalk had a large steep grass covered hill that rose up giving anyone standing on top a spectacular view of the bay. Directly across the water, and about a mile away, the Rainbow Bridge stretched out across the large span of water. It was a suspension bridge that crossed the northern part of Tokyo Bay between Shibaura Pier and the Odaiba waterfront development in the Minato Ward, where most of the younger Sailors lived.

The Inner Sailors had all been here only once before which was shortly after they had defeated the witch, Viluy. She had been a member of the Witches 5 which had been a sub-group of the Death Busters organization. They had become the Sailors' main enemies after Kaolinite, the first of the Death Busters' lieutenants to appear, was killed in an epic battle with the Sailors at the Tokyo Tower. The members of the Witches 5 had each taken turns at being Kaolinite's replacement to conduct their own operations to collect pure hearts, which were to be used to provide power to the Sovereign of Silence, Mistress 9.

When it was Viluy's turn, she had attempted to steal the pure hearts of the brightest minds in all of Tokyo by gathering them together for a national examination competition. She had also personally targeted Ami to be her own personal academic rival for her civilian identity of Yui Bidou. Deep in the basement of the Mugen School, Sailors Uranus and Neptune located the still weak Sovereign, but were unable to eliminate her because Ami used her body to block their path before Viluy arrived to engage them in battle. In the end, Sailor Moon was able to damage the nanocuff on the witch's arm causing her deadly micro-robots to turn on her and disintegrate her body. After they had ensured that all of the affected students were safe they had gathered at this particular spot of the Bayside Walkway so Haruka and Michiru could thank the others for saving them when they had recklessly tried to take out the Sovereign of Silence by themselves. That very moment marked the beginning of the two Sailor groups finally coming together to form one solid fighting team.

Haruka parked her yellow convertible sports car in the nearest parking area and led the others toward the designated location. They all immediately saw the group of young girls and Mamoru gathered around a bench at the base of the steep hill. There was a young man with them that neither Haruka nor any of the other women recognized. He was situated next to Makoto and as they got closer they saw that his arm was around her in a romantic gesture. As they continued to get closer to their younger team mates, they began to hear bits and pieces of the conversation that they were currently involved in as they awaited their arrival.

"So wait, hold on. Usagi is going to have a daughter named Chibiusa and be the future Queen of the Earth?"

"That was our reaction as well." Rei said with some sarcasm.

"Hey. I happen to think I am I am going to be a great leader for planet Earth, and I would appreciate some show of support especially from you Rei." Usagi countered.

"Hey. I support you. I put up with your nonsense all the time."

"Nonsense? I can't help it if I just like to have fun."

Sean and the other girls turned their eyes away as they were fully aware of what was about to happen. They didn't make any attempt to try to stop it. Rei and Usagi bickered all the time and it was usually about completely pointless things. However, anyone that knew either, or both, of them could see that they actually did like each other and their little squabbles were just their way of showing everyone that simple truth. Luna and Artemis each dropped their heads and sighed as they prepared themselves for the usual 'comedy routine' as Luna had often referred to it. Sean leaned in over to Minako, Ami, and Makoto and quietly spoke.

"I am glad to see that some things have stayed the same."

"Yea and now everything will be back to the way it was now that you're back."

"Thanks Minako. It feels great to be with you all again."

"Oh. Before I forget, thank you for all the exotic gifts. I love the electron microscope you sent to me from Germany."

"You are more than welcome Ami."

It was at this point that Haruka and company drew close to the bench that they were sitting. Makoto was the first to notice their arrival and tilted her chin up to look up at them. Her abrupt movement caught the attention of the other girls who also turned to look at the newest additions to their little social group.

"Hey Haruka-chan. You finally made it."

Usagi and Rei stopped their friendly tongue-lashing and turned to look at the mostly older group of females. The looks on their faces told them that the reason they had asked them here was not meant as a social call, but was actually to deal with some Sailor-related business. Ami had already suggested to the girls on the way over that that was probably the purpose of this impromptu get together.

"We need to speak with our "red" friend. Where is he now?"

Haruka had kept her question purposely vague so that the young man with them would not be alerted to their secret statuses as Sailor warriors. Having their identities publicly known would be a grave error in judgment, as it would allow any future enemies to attack them more directly. At the same time, the public officials would more than likely make their lives very difficult by either restricting their actions or getting in their way as they tried to combat any future global threats.

The girls seemed surprisingly unfazed by her words. They each exchanged blank looks with each other from their various positions around the bench before looking at the young man sitting among them. The look they gave him was clearly meant as a silent question.

The young man nodded his head at the young girls that surrounded him. He then turned his head and looked up at the group of women standing a few feet away. He lifted his right arm and bent it at the elbow so that his forearm was pointing straight up. He was wearing a light green and brown windbreaker so only his bare hand was currently exposed. He glanced around at their current surroundings to make sure that there were no approaching pedestrians. When he was satisfied that the coast was indeed clear, he looked back at Haruka and locked eyes with her. Without breaking their stare-down, the sleeve of his jacket instantly began to move as it transformed into the red symbiotic skin. It then proceeded to move up and completely cover his exposed hand. In less than three seconds it became the black and red claw of the person that had saved her life earlier at the airport.

Haruka's eyes widened as did each of her team mates'. This unassuming young man was the being known as Carnage? They had admittedly been expecting someone of a different type and never would have believed that he was the red skinned creature unless they had seen it with their own eyes. After about a minute, the red living material retreated back to its original position at the wrist which left his bare human hand exposed again. It then transitioned back into the camouflage of the green and brown sleeve of the jacket that it was publicly appearing to be. The young man sat back against the bench and rested his arms along the top of it. One of his arms fell gently down to rest on the opposite shoulder of Makoto, whose cheeks blushed with the feeling of his touch on her body.

"I am present. What would you like to talk to me about?"

"We want to know about the monster we fought today and who sent it."

"I honestly don't know who sent it."

"It was clearly targeting you. Who would want you dead that badly?"

"That particular line is forming around the block."

"Enough with the games. This is serious. A monster attacked our princess today who was originally after you. Since it failed in that task, whoever sent it will probably send another to complete the job. I will not allow you to put our princess in danger again unless I know exactly what is going on and who is behind it."

Haruka's bold and cold statement stunned the girls and even her own Outer team mates. Everyone knew that she took her destiny as a Sailor warrior and her duty to protect the Moon Princess and the Solar System extremely seriously even to the point where she was willingly to make seemingly unthinkable sacrifices to ensure that they were successful in those goals. In response to her comment, Sean took his arm off Makoto and the back of the bench and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his thighs and interlock his fingers together. He looked directly at Haruka to let her know that he too was now being serious about the recent events and what they could mean to all of them.

"I have killed more monsters, both creature and human than there is people living in this beautiful section of our city over the past fourteen years and stopped just as many human criminals as well. Anyone associated with them, whether they are a family member, friend, or some arcane occult worshipping group could have sent that creature after me for revenge for one of my past deeds or another petty reason altogether. But make no mistake, I take no pleasure in battle and do not live at all for the thrill of combat. I do it purely so that we, and the people we protect, can have moments like this where they can have fun times with friends without the fear of danger."

He gestured with his head as he said that last part to indicate that he was referring to the girls and Mamoru and the deep friendship that he shared with all of them. Haruka did not immediately respond to his personal confession. She could tell that he was indeed being truthful and that he was not a reckless person who would willingly put Usagi or any of the others in danger on purpose. However, that still didn't answer her questions and if the list of possible suspects really did include any of the humans that he had killed or put in prison then that just made their job even harder.

Michiru could sense the rapidly approaching breakdown in the overall conversation. She decided to see if Sean knew what the cryptic image that she had seen in her mirror might mean to keep the discussion going and to try a different approach. Perhaps his fresh insight could provide an answer to that specific question and allow them to plan their next move.

"My magic mirror gave me an image that might provide us with a clue as to who sent that monster. It was a dark castle surrounded by shadows. Does that mean anything to you?"

Sean's face remained blank as he visibly thought about the image. The other girls were also thinking in case the image was misinterpreted as being related to Sean and was actually directed at one of them. For a couple minutes they all sat and stood in silence as they all silently compiled a list of possible answers to the Deep Aqua Mirror's vague image.

Suddenly, Sean jolted his head up and his face showed an expression of clarity. The abrupt movement immediately captured all of the girls' attention as well as Luna and Artemis'. They all waited anxiously for him to speak and to hear what he had thought of.

"That monster. I have seen it before I mean before the airport today."

The girls exchanged shocked looks. He had just told Haruka that he had no idea who had sent the monster but now he was saying that he had seen that particular creature before. It was not something they were really proud of but each of them remembered every monster, droid, daimon, lemure, and phage that they had fought over the course of their careers as Sailor warriors. When the evil shaman, Apsu, had tried to change the course of destiny, causing most of their past enemies to be revived, they had immediately recognized each and every one and remembered the past battles they had with them. How could Sean have previously seen this monster and still have no idea who had sent it?

"You've encountered it before? Where? When?"

Sean didn't turn to look at Minako as she intensely questioned him. He stayed silent and looked down at the sidewalk as he collected his thoughts. When he was finally ready to continue he lifted his head and began to speak.

"I saw that monster approximately two and a half years ago"

He paused as it appeared like he was wrestling with himself as to whether he should reveal something that he felt would shock all of them. It was clear that whatever he was struggling with was something that he wasn't fully comfortable with either. He turned to look at Makoto and her green eyes gave him some reassurance and strength to finish his sentence.

" when you girls were at the North Pole."

The girls and their guardian cats all let a collective gasp escape their lips as they all instantaneously realized what he was referring to and, more importantly, who he was implying had sent the monster. It was the night of the terrible assault on the city of Tokyo when the Dark Kingdom launched its final act of terror against the people of Earth. None of them had thought about the Dark Kingdom since that day and they had chosen to not dwell on the lives lost during that horrible night.

"It can't be. Beryl, can't be alive, not again"

Usagi's shaky statement again rang the memory of the evil shaman, Apsu, across the Inner Sailors' minds. Apsu and her minions, the Opposito Soldiers, had formed the group known as Hell Destiny in the 31st century kingdom of Crystal Tokyo. The five girls: Nabu, Marduk, Ishtar, Nergal, and Sin were all personally handpicked by Apsu to counter each of the Inner Sailors' powers, including Sailor Moon's. Their reckless manipulations and alterations to the timeline of Earth had caused several of the Sailors' previously defeated enemies to be revived. This had included Queen Beryl and the DD girls which had brought up some very painful memories. Once they had finally defeated Apsu and the Earth's proper timeline was restored, Beryl and all of their other past enemies disappeared back into the abysmal oblivion they had been originally sentenced too.

Haruka, Hotaru and Michiru tensed up at the mention of Queen Beryl. They had been with Sailor Moon when she had encountered her in the ice caves for the second time. They all had the past memories of the Moon Kingdom's downfall, just like the Inner Sailors, so they felt the same pain and loss that filled Sailor Moon upon seeing their ancient enemy again. They had just barely managed to defeat her after she transformed into her ultimate form, Super Beryl, but it had required the use of two Silver Crystals, Usagi's present day one and Chibiusa's 31st century crystal. Like their younger friends they were more than a little uncomfortable at the thought that the evil queen had once again returned to plague the world.

"I don't think its Beryl "

Everyone looked over at Sean. The tension around the bench was almost unbearable as they waited anxiously for him to explain why he felt that the one enemy they all feared the most had not been reborn for a third time. He didn't say anything at first as he chose instead to lean back against the back of the bench. As he did so his light windbreaker began to open up and split apart as the symbiotic camouflage peeled itself back. Underneath the disguised living material, the girls saw a thick brown manila folder that had been hidden inside the symbiote. Sean reached inside the opening in his symbiotic skin and took the file in his hand before holding it out for everyone to see. The label on the folder was written in English so only Minako and Ami could read it.

Minako had been self-taught by her friend, Katerina, when she had briefly lived in London, England about four years ago. Ami had learned it through her many years of intense studying and exam preparations. Her own personal goal was to learn and memorize one hundred English words a day. They both quickly read the file's title and their faces immediately drained of any colour, signaling to the others that it was very bad news. When neither of them immediately spoke, Sean informed the others about the contents of the folder.

"This file contains everything the Illuminati Council had on the Dark Kingdom the same Dark Kingdom that we have all previously fought."

The girls were speechless and their faces became completely devoid of emotion, even the Outer Sailors'. The older Sailors had not taken part in the more recent war with the Dark Kingdom as they had not yet been awakened at that point with the exception of Sailor Pluto, who had guarding the Door of Time. However, they had seen the types of monsters that they had at their disposal, like the DD Girls that had been guarding Queen Beryl after her revival when Apsu caused their re-appearances. They all understood the seriousness of the threat level that the Dark Kingdom posed if they were indeed back in action. As the implications of having to battle the Dark Kingdom again, for a third time, radiated with each of them Michiru was still hung up on something Sean had just said or more specifically, how he had said it.

"What do you mean 'had'?"

Sean looked over at her as he finished handing the file folder over to Rei and Minako. His face was tense and stern from the gravity and the dramatic and apprehensive turn the conversation had taken in such a short period of time. He paused for a second as he took in a deep breath.

"Yesterday, the main Council building was completely destroyed in an explosion. Everyone inside was almost certainly killed before the blast to ensure that no one would be left alive. I was there at the time and barely escaped. I wasn't sure about who was responsible but the attack on the Council building, and then the re-appearance of a Dark Kingdom monster to attack me shortly after, cannot be a coincidence."

Minako and Rei were continuing to flip through the surveillance photos contained inside the folder as Sean was talking. As they turned the various images over, they saw faces that they thought they would never see again images of Zosite, Kunzite, Nephrite, and Jadeite with their cold dark eyes as they moved around locations both in the city and places that they didn't recognize. The struggle against Apsu had revealed that they had once been the servants of Mamoru when he had been known as Prince Endyimon. With the defeats of Queen Metalia and Beryl the evil influences placed on them had been broken and they had returned to their original mentalities. Their assistance had been instrumental in the Sailors' victory over Apsu and the Hell Destiny group.

Ami pulled out her microcomputer and began to enter some of the data she found in one of the written documents she had taken out of the folder. Her fingers danced across the tiny keyboard as she stopped periodically to look back at the information sheet. After a few minutes, the small blue device chirped loudly as it finished its analysis of the information provided. Ami studied the screen as her brow furrowed. The answers her computer provided seemed to deeply trouble her.

"What is it Ami? What did your computer find out?"

"The Dark Kingdom's base is not at the North Pole like last time. My computer was able to pick up and recognize the Dark Kingdom's energy signature using the experiences from their original appearance and when they were brought back due to the manipulations of Apsu."

She paused as she prepared herself for her next statement. Her computer was never wrong when it came to analyzing and interpreting data. Even still, the answer it provided was not something that she had been expecting and she had no idea how they were going to use it.

"According to the information from the folder, my computer has determined that the Dark Kingdom's new headquarters is located in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, near the city of Edmonton."

The Inner Sailors all turned in unison to look at Sean. They were all aware that he was originally from Canada and probably still had some personal attachment to it even though he now considered Japan to be his home country. He felt their various questions inside his head as he both returned their looks and considered what the next logical step should be. He shook his head in defeat as there was really only one option.

"It looks like we are going to Canada then."

The Sailors and Mamoru considered the ramifications of his statement. Only Minako had ever been to a foreign country before, so the nervousness of leaving the only land they had ever known resonated deeply within all of them.

It was clear that Makoto was especially anxious. Since they would need Sean to guide them through the unfamiliar country they wouldn't be able to use the Sailor Teleport. That meant that they would have to take a much slower mode of transportation, an airplane. The mere thought of it terrified her to no end. Her body began to visibly shake as her aerophobia started to rapidly consume her. Sean felt her noticeable trembling beside him as her body vibrated against his. Without looking at her or making it too obvious he reached over to grasp her hand and offer his personal support and comfort. Makoto let a small smile break through her anxiety as the touch of his hand holding hers calmed her nerves a bit.

"Oh My God.."

Everyone snapped their attention to Rei. She had continued to flip through the folder's contents as she mulled over the turn of events that this afternoon had brought to them. As she scanned the photos of various Dark Kingdom monsters and operatives while purposely avoiding the written reports, since they were written in English, she had stopped at a photo that made her blood run ice cold in her veins. The other Sailors, both Inner and Outer, moved closer. They all looked down at the open folder on her lap and the picture that was on top of its contents.

The photo showed a group of five men who were dressed in expensive looking business suits. They were all gathered around a small wooden table in a posh looking high-rise office. The photo had been clearly taken from outside the building judging from the angle of it. A reflection in the glass of the window in the bottom right corner of the photograph confirmed the specific location of the building as being in Tokyo, as the Tokyo Tower was clearly seen in the reflected image. There was a second photo attached to the main one and could be partially seen underneath it. It looked like it was an infra-red scan of the same scene. Haruka reached down and slide the photo out from underneath the top so that they could all fully see it. Four of the men were coloured in with shades of red and yellow which indicated a high body temperature characteristic of a normal human being. The other person was displayed in the colours of dark blue and black. This meant that their body wasn't giving up much internal heat or none at all. Nothing human would have a body temperature that low. This was meant to be proof that whoever this person was, he was not a person at all.

The Sailors remembered that the the Dark Kingdom's servants had possessed the power to assume human visages in order to conduct their plots out in public without drawing any attention to themselves. However, that was not what had grabbed Rei's attention and caused her sudden verbal outburst. As she had looked at the group of men that were meeting with the supposed Dark Kingdom monster, one face stood out to her directly. It was the face of a powerful politician that was very widely known in this part of Japan. His presence at the meeting opened up a whole slew of possibilities as to what the revived Dark Kingdom could be planning.

"Rei what is it?" Ami asked as concern filled her voice as she looked over at her friend.

Rei shook her head a few times to focus her mind and clear the initial shock from her body. She pointed to the image of the man she had recognized in the photo which caused the other women as well as Sean and Mamoru to look at it. Haruka and Michiru looked at each other as they recognized the man as well. They had met him several times in the past when they had performed their classical violin and piano concert at several high society parties and fund-raisers.

"Isn't that Takashi?"

"Yes it is. His full name is Takashi Hino. He is my father."


	10. Divide and Conquer

Chapter 9: Divide and Conquer

High above the Pacific Ocean, a large commercial airplane flew eastward towards the vast continent of North America. The markings on the tailfin of its long metal body identified it as belonging to the United Kingdom. Around the plane the skies were crystal clear as it passed through the bright yellow sunshine that marked the start of a new day. It was both a beautiful and surreal image for all the passengers inside.

Inside the metal tube that constituted the main frame of the jetliner, the small group of young people began to stir and wake from their much needed sleep before beginning to carry out each of their daily morning. This particular morning was especially important because they were going to land in Edmonton Alberta, Canada in a few hours. According to Gordon, the total flight time from Tokyo to Edmonton was approximately ten hours and they were just passing the halfway point of their trip.

Sean had not slept at all, as his mind was so focused on their mission that his brain had refused to allow his body to relax. He had chosen instead to go over the contents of the file folder he had taken from the Illuminati Council building before it had been destroyed. The shocking revelation of Rei's politician father being involved in a meeting with a Dark Kingdom representative had made him want to take a closer look at the other photos that showed similar gatherings of other seemingly important people. As he flipped through the numerous photographs he recognized several other high-ranking political figures, as well as many highly decorated military officials from several different countries across the world. Each surveillance photo was accompanied by a corresponding infrared image that showed who the specific nonhuman individuals were in each photograph.

This deeply troubled him as he continued to struggle to figure out exactly what the Dark Kingdom could possibly be planning. To the best of his knowledge, they had never worked with humans willingly before. They preferred to brainwash turn them into monsters that were completely loyal to them. They had also never shown this level of organization before. With the elements they had uncovered so far it showed a radically different and much more elaborate level than any of the previous operations under the leadership of Queen Beryl. If she had indeed been revived as Usagi had feared she had clearly learned from her previous failures and was now more dangerous than ever.

He read through the field reports from the various agents that had conducted the surveillances on the seemingly innocent looking business meetings. Each of the reports were very detailed in describing the scene and the body language of the various people involved. However, there were no written transcripts for any of the meetings documented in the folder. This was a fatal hole in the overall reconnaissance of the Dark Kingdom and one that didn't make even the smallest bit of sense. Why would the world's powerful defence organization not have any records of what exactly was being discussed between a group of powerful public officials and the agents of a known enemy of all humankind?

As he pondered that single vital question Minako, Hotaru, and Ami appeared in his peripheral vision as they joined him in the common room of the plane. He had heard each of them get up and begin to move around the sleeping area on the far side of the jet about a half hour ago so their arrival had not surprised him. Haruka and Michiru entered the room a minute later. They appeared to be much more awake than their younger team mates. Sean had seen the two older women about an hour ago in the library section of the plane which was located between the sleeping area and the area they were in now. He had observed them as they looked through the collection of occult books and magical items that were on display in the wooden cabinets that lined the walls. He was a little skeptical about whether they were both fluent enough in the English or Latin languages to fully understand the text in some of the books but they were definitely smart enough to be suspicious of the unusual artefacts that were present inside the cabinets. He remembered thinking to himself that he believed, when this crisis was over, he would become good friends with those two as their personalities seemed to be very much like his own.

All of the young ladies took seats in the open pieces of furniture around the room. Artemis leapt into Minako's lap after she had settled down into one of the spinning chairs. Sean lifted his head up before addressing them with a warm and friendly tone.

"Good morning ladies. Were you able to get comfortable and get some sleep in our current surroundings?" Sean replied with as much warmness that he could come up with given their current situation.

"It was better than I thought it would be, but then again, I doubt other airplanes are designed quite like this." Minako replied with a stretch.

Sean looked at Minako and gave her a friendly smile. Even through she didn't say it, he could tell that she wasn't too thrilled that the Illuminati had spent such a large amount of money on such an elaborate interior for their private airplane when that wealth could have been put towards a much greater cause. Ami's facial expression when Minako spoke confirmed to him that she shared her friend's view point. Haruka and the others remained in their current stoical demeanour and showed no emotion to Minako's comment.

The three youngest members of the group had shared the king sized bed while two smaller beds were brought up from the storage area of the plane for Haruka and Michiru. The beds that had been stored away were high-end portable beds that were easy to assemble. They had been placed in specific locations around the sleeping quarters so that they could be secured firmly to the floor to ensure the safety of the bed's user in the event that the airplane experienced a bout of turbulence while the passenger slept.

"What about you Sean? Where did you end up sleeping?" Ami inquired.

There had been only two extra beds stored on the plane, and with the addition of the two smaller beds in the sleeping area, it would have been very cramped if another person was added to the mix. When they had realized this he had volunteered himself to sleep in the common room to give the girls their personal space.

"Actually I didn't end up sleeping at all, but I am happy to hear that all yours were enjoyable. I spent most of the night going over the contents of the file that the Illuminati had on the Dark Kingdom." Sean politely replied, gesturing with hand to the large file on the table beside him.

"Hold on. Just what exactly is this Illuminati Council? You haven't told us much about them at all since your return to Tokyo. Why are we all putting some much stock into a single file that you supposedly found in their headquarters?" Haruka interjected.

Sean sat back in his chair and looked directly at Haruka. He had been expecting some sort of challenge from her and wasn't at all surprised that she had chosen now as the time for it. He had suspected that the only reason she and Michiru had agreed to come with them in the first place was strictly because their princess had ordered them too.

After Rei had identified her father in the photograph, the team had discussed what the correct tactical response should be. Ami had proposed the idea of using the strike team protocol that she and Sean had put into place during their first war with the Dark Kingdom. Understandably, not everyone liked the idea at first, because they were stronger as a group and didn't want to separate. However, they were also very much aware that they now had two different objectives that they needed to investigate. One was to find out what Rei's father's connection to the Dark Kingdom was, and the second was finding the location of the base in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. This had made everyone reluctantly agree to Ami's suggestion of dividing into two teams.

Sean's knowledge of the Canadian culture and landscape made him the obvious choice to lead the team going to Canada. Ami's supercomputer's ability to pinpoint the exact location of the negative energy being emitted by their enemy's base made her involvement in the overseas operation another easy decision.

Due to her personal connection, Rei was put in charge of confronting her father about his connection to the Dark Kingdom. Makoto's severe aerophobia made it obvious that she would be one of the members of Rei's team. Usagi decided to stay with Rei to personally support her friend since Rei had supported her during those painful months when Mamoru had left for America when in actuality he had been killed by Galaxia before being restored to life following her defeat at the hands of Sailor Moon.

The team headed to Canada needed to have some tactical support in case they were discovered or became engaged in a fierce battle with the base's main forces. It was no secret that the Outer Sailors had been gifted with stronger attacks and more power than the Inners due to their sacred mission to repel any invasions from beings outside the Solar System. As the Sailor team's sole leader, Usagi had ordered Haruka, Hotaru, and Michiru to go with the Canadian-bound team, since the potential for battle was much greater for them. Setsuna was asked to stay with Rei and the others to avoid sending all of their strongest warriors to one location. That left Minako as the last remaining unassigned person. She had argued that her abilities would be better suited towards the Canadian team as her powers could put the odds slightly more in their favour if they did become engaged in a firefight or were out-numbered by the Dark Kingdom's minions. Naturally, Artemis would go with Minako while Luna would stay in Japan with Usagi.

"Ok then. It's only logical and fair that you all understand and know about the source of this information since we are all risking our lives based on it. To put it simply, the Illuminati Council is, or was, the largest global protection organization in the world. Its power and influence in the public arenas and world events was bigger than the CIA in America, or even the United Nations. Officially, it was founded in 1776, though many scholars have speculated that it has actually been around for far longer than that.

"They have gone by, or been associated with, many names throughout history, The Enlightened, and the Free-Thinkers being some of the more well-known. They originally started with only five members, but grew to a size of tens of thousands. Their political power and corporate influences have increased to immeasurable levels over the past three centuries of their official existence. They are and were believed to be a major driving force behind many of the global events that we have seen recently. These events include such examples as the partial unification of the European continent or the frequent fluctuations in the global economy. Many of the most brilliant minds in history have been thought to have belonged to the Council at some point, including such respected figures like Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton. "

"But Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton lived and died long before the Council was officially founded."

"That is correct Ami. If it could ever be proven that they were in fact members it would confirm the theories surrounding the actual age of the Council. However, regardless of when exactly it was created and who its members were in the past, it is undeniable that the organization grew into the world's most powerful entity. It has, or more appropriately had, the largest occult library on the planet as well as the most extensive collection of magical items, including some of the objects that some of you were looking at earlier."

He looked over at Haruka and Michiru to let them know that he had been aware of their activities before they made their appearance a few minutes ago. Neither of them gave any sign that they were affected by his revelation. They chose to remain silent and continue to listen to his description of the history of the Illuminati Council.

"As all of you are now aware, there are super-powered humans out there and dozens of other heroes scattered around the world. Most of them share the same goal as us, which is the protection and preservation of this planet from the forces of darkness. Some of them only protect their home countries while the rest and, until recently, myself, travelled around the globe to hotspots where the fragile peace this planet enjoys was threated. Every single one of us has at one time or another done the work of the Illuminati Council either directly or indirectly, including the Sailor team. For the nomadic or travelling heroes, the Council will often send a liaison to act as a guide and mentor to these champions to ensure that their particular mission requirements are met and completed in an efficient time span. Alistair, who Minako and Ami may remember, was one example of a liaison."

Ami and Minako exchanged a look between them. They both clearly remembered meeting Alistair on the roof of their junior high school, just after they had defeated the demon prince Gaap. His aura of superiority had not sited well with either of them, and they were glad when he had left after recruiting Sean for his supposedly last mission. The brief conversation he had with them reiterated what Sean had said about the Council being fully aware of almost everything that went on in the world and, more specifically, their activities as Sailor warriors. It was that very fact that he had not only known their civilian identities, but where exactly where to find them, led ample credence to Sean's other claim that the Council's vast knowledge and information gathering abilities were not something to scoff at. It had taken their past enemies months to learn their identities if they ever learned them at all.

Feeling like they were getting off topic, Sean quickly brought the conversation back to their current mission. Now was not the time for an extensive history lesson when there was a potentially strong threat looming just over the horizon. He had a feeling that they were entering this crisis late in the game and they needed to desperately catch up if they were to have any hope of stopping whatever the Dark Kingdom was plotting.

"If the Council was keeping tabs on any identified Dark Kingdom members that were left following its collapse, we cannot ignore the threat they still present given our shared history with them."

"What do you think they could be trying to do?"

"I am not sure yet Michiru. At the very least, they are trying to revive Queen Metalia, or Beryl, or perhaps both. In the worst case scenario is that they are trying to destroy the world again. Either way, we can't allow them to succeed."

"They won't. We will find them and completely destroy them once and for all."

Sean nodded at Haruka as she clenched her fist and raised her voice to emphasize the determination she possessed. Michiru and Hotaru nodded to show that they supported their partner's vow. Minako and Ami remained silent. It was clear from their facial expressions that they were not thrilled to be facing the Dark Kingdom again, as the memories of their deaths were still fresh in their minds, even after a couple of years had passed.

Sean turned to look out the small window beside him and glanced at the large orange-gold sun that shined through the thick glass. He closed his eyes and let the image of Makoto flash across the back of his eyelids. His brain recalled the memories of her long curly brown hair, the shine of her light green eyes, and her beautiful smile filled him with a strong and renewed sense of purpose and strength.

'I will come back to you my love. I will come back and I am going to bring everyone home safely. After we stop them, you and I can finally have our life together.'

Later that day, back in Tokyo, Rei, Makoto, and Setsuna approached the main doors of the Peninsula Hotel. They had just gotten out of the black limousine that had been sent to escort them to the hotel's location.

It had taken a lot of convincing from Usagi and Makoto for Rei to swallow her revulsion towards her father and call his office. To no one's surprise her father's secretary, Kaidou, answered the phone. Kaidou had been her father's personal assistant for many years and was often the only real contact she ever got from her father. His pleasant attitude towards her and being the only constant in her life for many years made him something of an older brother. He had been there for her when her mother, Risa, had become seriously ill and eventually died when she was a young girl. He had then helped her through the ensuing emotional turmoil that followed in her father's absence. Every year since her mother had passed away he and her father, Takashi, would spend time with her on her birthday where the same gifts were always exchanged: a white dress and a bouquet of white Casablanca lilies. Rei had come to realize, through the many subtle hints from Kaidou over the years, that he had actually been the one to select the style dress and flowers for her and not her father. This had served to only increase the negative feelings she had towards her father and facing him now all the more difficult.

Kaidou had been delighted to hear Rei's voice when he picked up the phone. Rei and her father had a severe falling out years ago. When her mother had fallen ill with terminal cancer she had spent every minute she could at her bedside. Her father, however, was too busy with his work at the time and seemingly ignored any request by her or his wife to come visit them at the hospital. When Risa finally passed away Rei had been the only one with her. Being forced to face this traumatic event by herself and the absence of her father during this painful period had caused her to hold a deep resentment towards him. It was at that point that she moved in with her grandfather at the Hikawa Shrine and severed all ties to him. Over the years that followed, Takashi had made several infrequent attempts to have public dinners with his daughter to maintain the appearance of a happy family man to his political constituents. Rei would often refuse his offers because she did not want to be a mere prop in his illusion to the world just so he could maintain his all-important political position in the Democratic Liberal Party of Japan. However, there had been a few times where she gave in and make an appearance out of respect for her deceased mother since she had once loved him and given Rei the gift of life. But every single time she ended up regretting it as their time was often spent in quiet and awkward silence and ended in some sort of argument or verbal altercation.

Rei was confident that this time would be no different but at least this time she would have her friends there to support her. She had insisted to Kaidou that her friends be allowed to come or she wouldn't meet with Takashi. Kaidou had been silent for several minutes as he had run the terms of Rei's ultimatum past her father, who she assumed was in the room with him. When she heard his voice again Kaidou's vocal tone remained cheerful hinting her in that her terms had been accepted.

"That is fine. We have an opening tomorrow morning if you are free on such short notice." Kaidou calmly stated.

"Yes, the sooner the better. Tomorrow morning will be fine." Rei replied flatly.

"Splendid. We will send a car over to the Shrine at 11am. Please be ready. " Kaidou informed her.

It turned out Usagi's family was going to a resort and had insisted that she spend the day with them. So only Makoto and Setsuna would be able to accompany her to the lunch meeting. Rei sighed when she heard the news, but thought it might actually work out better with Usagi not there. She was already going to be in an emotionally high strung state of mind because of her father's presence, and since Usagi lacked the required meal time etiquette that was necessary when dining with someone that thought so highly of themselves, her brash attitude might offend Takashi and thus lead to a disruption which would prevent them from learning his connection to the Dark Kingdom. This might then cause Rei to lose her temper and make their current situation even worse. Makoto and Setsuna were both respectful enough that they could easily adapt to the high society level of protocol long enough for them to, hopefully, get the vital information they needed.

As they stood in front of the super luxury hotel their eyes moved in all directions as they took in the expensive and glamorous building and its grounds. Behind them, a simple flat fountain stood in the centre of the roundabout that served as the drop off for guests. Its base was made up of many irregular shaped plates and tiles bringing to mind images of the dried and cracked sections of land of an arid desert. Several jets of water shot upwards into the area with some shooting as high as six feet into the air. Each water spout had a light built into its core that caused the water to be illuminated with a beautiful glow as it danced upwards.

The front doors of the hotel were equally impressive. On either side of the main entrance there stood a large white marble statue of a Chinese lion with a large potted Japanese Bandai tree situated next to it. Two men dressed in full white uniforms, which included matching hats and gloves, acted as the doormen.

Inside the lobby was a large desk. Its length was long and extended almost the full length of the lobby. Three hotel employers were behind the desk and dressed in formal black jackets and white dress shirts. The lobby's colours were a mixture of soft browns and tans, using earth tones to create a calming atmosphere. Several pot lights and lamps placed around the space added to the artificial light that seemed to increase the tranquility of the room's design.

The three girls were unsure of what to do at that point. Were they supposed to go up to the desk and ask where the party for Takashi Hino was to meet? Kaidou had not given them any special instructions for when they arrived, and they had naturally assumed that he would be waiting for them in the lobby. They highly doubted that the hotel employees were going to tell them where Takashi was, since there were privacy guidelines they had to follow. However, they didn't really have a choice in the matter either. They had an assignment from their princess to complete and they wouldn't be able to do it unless they made every attempt possible to proceed. Rei slowly approached the desk and waited patiently for one of the hotel employees to look at her. When none of them did, she decided to get their attention.

"Excuse me... we are here to see Takashi Hino. We spoke with his secretary, Kaidou, and they are expecting us." Rei said when she caught the attention of one of the staff members.

"Of course madam. Can I ask what is your name?" The desk clerk asked as she looked at the trio of young girls.

"These are my friends, Makoto Kino and Setsuna Meioh. I am Rei Hino, Takashi's daughter."

"Ahh yes. Mr. Kaidou did leave us a message indicating that you would be coming this morning. Please right this way." The hotel employee said as he walked around the desk.

The hotel employee walked out from behind the desk and gestured with for them to follow. He led them down a narrow hallway to a private dining area. The dining room was the size of an average restaurant. It was made almost entirely of dark stained wood that Makoto guessed was oak. Tan-coloured panels and beige coloured fabric coverings extended between the wood frames and pillars that made up the numerous small sections of the walls. There was no one else in the dining room with them making the room more than a little unsettling.

The hotel employee directed them to a private booth located along the back wall. It was a small cozy table that was surrounded by three walls. To the left and right of the table, the two divider walls had the tan coloured fabric that ran from the top of the seat to the ceiling and stretched along the length of the bench seats. Both of the wall dividers continued past the end of the seats for another two feet before stopping at a rounded wooden end with a white plaster foot. The tan upholstery material seamlessly ran to the floor and ceiling as it had from the top of the booth benches Light beige fabric that complimented the dark wood that surrounded them covered the bottom cushions of the booth seats.

As they approached the table, they could see that there was a large wooden frame that resembled a window positioned three feet away from the end of the table. On either side of the structure was a large square panel of wooden lattice that could swing open and close. This would enclose the occupants inside and give them more privacy from any other patrons. By its very design, the center of the frame remained open which was what gave it the appearance of a window. Carved designs and shapes were etched into the square frame and a small square of lattice was built into the base of the frame to increase its visual appeal. In the darkened hall the only lights inside the dining area were a single medium-sized wall mounted that looked a little like a Chinese lantern, and several small pot lights built into the underside of the table's rim.

The three friends sat down along the right side of the table. Rei sat in the middle with Makoto on her right and Setsuna on her left. She kept her head down to let everyone know that she was not happy at all to be there. Off to the side, the sound of a door opening caused both Makoto and Setsuna to abruptly turn their heads from Rei. Rei made no such movement as her heightened intuition had already told her that her father had just arrived.

Takashi Hino was a man of medium height and weight. The resemblance to Rei was clear in their similar facial structures and hair colour, although his hair was starting to show small signs of greying. He wore an expensive double breasted elephant grey suit and navy blue necktie. He slid into the private booth and positioned himself at the far end of the table directly across from Makoto. His assistant, Kaidou, joined them and sat across from Setsuna, leaving a open gap in the middle between them. He looked over and gave Rei a small smile that she slowly returned to maintain the friendship between them.

As Rei had predicted, the tension that surrounded the table became very thick and awkward. No one was speaking other than to answer the waiter's questions or to make a special request. Makoto and Setsuna waited patiently for Rei to speak since this was a family affair and they were merely there as her guests. However, they needed to get the ball rolling or they were going to miss this important opportunity to gain some possibly vital information about their enemy. Kaidou must have been reading their minds because he spoke first and addressed Rei in the hopes of sparking some sort of casual meal conversation.

"Rei. I trust that school is going well?"

"Yes it is. I am a member of the music and glee clubs. They are helping me to prefect my singing and song writing."

"That is excellent to hear. I am sure you will succeed in reaching for the stars someday."

Rei didn't give any response to Kaidou's compliment and the conversation quickly fell flat as the tense atmosphere returned. Makoto leaned her body back and glanced over Rei at Setsuna who was quietly sipping her tea. Feeling her friend's stare she turned her head to look in her direction. No words were exchanged between them but just a clear and silent look. Rei's distaste for her father was clouding her senses and they couldn't afford to lose this opportunity if they waited for her to initiate the conversation and talk to her him. Setsuna nodded her head which Makoto took as her support for what she was about to do.

"So Mr. Hino. How is your work for the D.L.P. going?" Makoto calmly asked.

Rei turned to look at her and gave her a twisted expression that screamed 'What are you doing?' Makoto ignored her friend's questioning stare and remained focused solely on Mr. Hino as she awaited his response. Setsuna continued to sip her tea and kept her eyes down so that she was not rudely staring at Kaidou who was sitting directly across from her.

Mr. Hino finished swallowing the piece of bread he had been snacking on before wiping his mouth with a napkin. He cleared his throat as he prepared himself to politely answer. When he felt he was ready, he lifted his chin and looked directly at Makoto. He gave her a smile that was clearly forced across his face as he tried to give her the impression that he was delighted to be chatting with her.

"Quite well my dear. We have just finished implementing the final upgrades to our nation's computer defence systems. Our great country is now much more protected against any kind of foreign attack currently in existence. You can all now rest easier knowing that your government's officials are watching over you and doing everything possible to keep you safe."

Makoto, acting on reflex turned her head to look at both Rei and Setsuna. Without hesitation, the look she gave appeared to Kaidou and Mr. Hino as an expression of deep confusion as if she didn't understand what he had just said. In actuality, she was asking both of them if the meeting he had been photographed in was connected in any way to the military upgrades he had just informed them about. Unbeknownst to the two older gentlemen, the silent conversation between the three friends brought up some interesting and important points.

Mr. Hino had only been in one of the many photographs contained in the Illuminati Council's file so that either meant that it was a one-time event, or he was only a small cog in a much larger machine. There hadn't been anyone dressed in any sort of uniform so there was no clear evidence that the assembly had anything to do with the military or national defence. Added to that, was the reality that he was a busy politician and had no way of knowing what was said during the meeting it could have very well been the Dark Kingdom cashing in a political favour of some sort or getting permission to acquire some piece of land that Mr. Hino had control of.

The Dark Kingdom's presence at the meeting was something that they just couldn't ignore. If they didn't need Mr. Hino for some specific purpose, they wouldn't waste their time meeting with him. Perhaps they were trying to get a politician on their side to influence public policy towards their own ends in some way? That could very well be the reason why there was only the single known encounter with them and Mr. Hino. If that was indeed the case it would be something of a relief to them since this would mean that Takashi Hino was just another innocent pawn used by the Dark Kingdom and not an active member of it.

Makoto turned her head back to face Mr. Hino. She decided to push her luck a little farther and see if they could get another clue as to his connection with their enemy or another of his current projects that might hold some interest.

"What else have you been working on Mr. Hino?"

Mr. Hino gave her another forced smile as he again met her gaze. His body language noticeably shifted as it became more closed off before he broke eye contact and looked down at where his lunch would be placed when it arrived. He cleared his throat again and very politely addressed Makoto.

"I am very sorry but I cannot talk about my work anymore than I already have with civilians. We can't be lax in letting vital information potentially fall into the wrong hands. I hope you all can understand that."

Makoto slowly nodded her head in response. It seemed that was the end of their fishing expedition. He was not going to willingly reveal any more pertinent information to them. They would have to figure out another way to learn about his recent activities and dealings until they heard from their friends off in Canada.

It was then that two waiters approached the table as they carried five plates of salmon shioyaki. This was a traditional Japanese dish that involved fish fillets being rubbed with a generous amount of salt before being broiled or cooked over very hot coals.

After the waiters gave them their meals, they all proceeded to eat in silence as it was clear that the one topic the girls wanted to discuss was no longer an option for conversation. Makoto and Setsuna decided it was best to remain silent, as they didn't want to create anymore tension between them and Mr. Hino than was already present. They both could also feel the interior pain radiating from their friend, and it saddened them to no end. Rei hadn't said anything since answering Kaidou's question about twenty minutes before.

As they continued to eat, Rei purposely avoided looking in her father's direction, as she could tell that he had closed himself off and was now merely focused on his food. She hadn't felt her father's gaze on her at any point since he had sat down, which only affirmed to her that he wasn't going to make any attempt to bridge the gap between them either. This infuriated her as it only proved, once again, that he didn't care about her and made her question whether he had ever really loved her mother.

When they had all finished their meals, the waiters returned and quickly removed their empty plates and dirty utensils. A few seconds later, the ringing of a cell phone cut through the silence that still hovered over the dinner guests. Kaidou reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small black iPhone. He excused himself from the table and walked a short distance away. After about a minute, he came back and leaned in towards Mr. Hino.

"Sir we have to go, or we'll be late for the opening of the new cancer ward at St. Luke's Hospital."

He turned his head to look over at the three young women sitting across the table. He gave them an apologetic smile that appeared genuine.

"My apologies for our abrupt departure ladies but we have obligations that need fulfilled. I hope you can understand."

Makoto and Setsuna nodded. Rei looked up at Kaidou but her facial expression was blank. She had been through this situation many times in the past. Work always came first when it came to her father.

Mr. Hino slid out of the booth and quickly nodded towards the ladies without saying a word. Makoto and Setsuna bowed their heads out of respect for his simple gesture while Rei remained motionless. He turned and walked towards the door that led out towards the lobby. Kaidou watched his departure before spinning around to look at the ladies who remained at the table.

"Don't worry about the bill. We will cover that. Please stay and enjoy yourselves."

He then turned and hurried out the door to catch up with Mr. Hino, leaving the ladies by themselves in the large dining area. They took their time in finishing their cups of tea before getting up to leave the hotel. When they exited the main doors the black limousine that had taken them was parked outside. They got back in and began their ride back to the shrine.

"Well that was somewhat pointless. I knew he wasn't going to open up to us." Rei coldly said under her breath.

"That may be true, but, we did at least get something to investigate while we wait to hear back from the others." Setsuna replied, trying to sound positive.

"You're right Setsuna. We should go see Mamoru as soon as we can. Maybe he will know a way for us to find out more about those military computer upgrades." Makoto added.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get to it then." Rei said, glad to be leaving the hotel and the negative aura it radiated out to her now.

End of chapter 9


	11. Culture Shock

Chapter 10: Culture Shock

The airplane touched the runway with an abrupt and noticeable series of jolts and bumps. A few minutes before landing, Gordon had gone onto the jet's intercom and informed Sean and the others that it was time for them to fasten their seatbelts and secure any loose items that were out or in use. For some of the warriors, this had been their first time travelling by plane so the entire experience and concept of landing was something completely foreign. As a result, the girls unconsciously held their breaths and tightly gripped the arms of the chairs they were currently sitting as they prepared themselves for what they thought was coming.

When the plane finally came to a complete stop and Gordon once again came over the loudspeaker to inform them that it was safe to undo their seatbelts and move about the cabin areas, the novice air travellers collectively let a sigh of relief escape their lips. They each got out of their seats and quickly collected their individual pieces of carry-on luggage. They then gathered around the exterior door and anxiously waited for the plane to attach itself to the tunnel that connected them to the departure terminal of the airport. As they waited for the door to open, they discussed their plan again and what they needed to do first.

"We will need to find a map of Alberta and use the coordinates from Ami's computer to locate the precise location of the Dark Kingdom's base." Sean stated to the group.

"Agreed," the rest of the group said in unison.

It was then that Steven appeared from the cockpit and came to stand by the door with the others. Since they had left England so without any stewards or flight attendants, it was now his duty as the co-pilot to open and close the outside door whenever the airplane was arriving or departing, until they picked up another attendant.

As they waited for Gordon to line the door with the tunnel opening, Steven turned to look at the group of young heroes and his good friend, Sean. Sean had briefed them both on the reason for their important flight to Edmonton while the girls had been sleeping. From the information he had given them, both Gordon and he were more than happy to assist them if it meant stopping the Dark Kingdom and avenging the friends they had lost in the London attack.

The plane finally came to a stop and the signal light above the door lit up. Steven undid the metal clasps that securely locked the door and slid it open before tying it securely to the plane's interior wall. Once that was done, he turned back around and looked at the group again. When his eyes made it over to Sean the former Illuminati operative addressed him.

"Take the plane to a private hangar and have it refuelled in case we need to make another quick exit. We don't know exactly what we are heading into so we need to be ready for anything."

Steven nodded. He walked up to him and placed his hand on his right shoulder. He looked directly at his friend and regarded him with a look of respect mixed with deep concern. He flicked his eyes left and right so he could look at the young ladies that stood behind him and gave them the same admiration he was giving Sean.

"Take care, my friends. May the Powers That Be watch over all of you and lead you to victory this day."

Sean placed his left hand on Steven's right arm and returned his look of respect. He remained silent for a second as he let the moment occurring between them exist a little while longer. Even though it remained unsaid among everyone present, there was an undeniable feeling that there was a good chance this may be the last time they would ever see each other again.

"Let us hope. Be safe my friend."

With the reply from Sean, Steven let go of his shoulder and stepped aside to allow them to exit the plane. Sean led the way down the tunnel with each of the girls giving Steven a fond farewell and thanks as they passed. Michiru was the last of the group to leave the plane and as she followed the others down the tunnel she heard the plane's exterior door close behind her meaning she could only continue to move forward with her friends.

They exited the tunnel and the sights and sounds of the airport that greeted them were both shocking and a little frightening. Everywhere they looked, the signs and labels were written in English and another language they would later learn to be French. There was little to no Japanese words visible except for a few words that could be seen on a Japanese fast food restaurant named _Edo Japan_ near the terminal they stood in. It was more than a little overwhelming for them to be in an environment where they didn't know the primary language, and the feeling of complete helplessness began to consume them.

Added to their overall shock of not being able to understand anything around them was the various styles of clothing that the young people were wearing. Minako and the others were dressed in clothing that was both conservative and elegant, and for the most part was what most of the girls their age back in Tokyo were wearing. As they looked at the crowds of people, and in particular, the girls that looked to be in their age range, some of the outfits they saw completely shocked them to their very cores. Some of the young girls were dressed in a similar fashion to their style but with the cultural differences one naturally expected when visiting a foreign country. It was the rest of the females that caused them to pause and stare in utter disbelief.

Two ladies were dressed completely in black including their lips and fingernails. Their ears and lips were also repeatedly pierced, and when one of them turned their head to look in their direction they could see that her nose and middle of her chin were pierced as well. Ami and the other Sailors each had their ears pierced and usually wore studs or short dangly earrings, even when they were in their Sailor uniforms. Haruka was the only Sailor to wear hoop earrings as part of her Sailor outfit. Back home, very few girls in their neighbourhoods had piercings to this extreme, and it greatly confused each of them as to why anyone would want to look like that and undergo such a degree of various body modifications.

Another young girl was wearing a semi-transparent white t-shirt with a black bra that could be clearly seen by everyone around her. She was also wearing a pair of very low cut denim shorts that barely covered her butt. Her outfit certainly did not leave anything to the imagination and it was unsettling to the young group of Japanese women who firmly believed that young girls should dress in an appropriate and dignified manner.

As they continued their observations of the people around them Sean finished clearing their arrivals with the gate attendant and rejoined them. He could tell from the looks on each of their faces that they were mesmerized by the sights and sounds of the foreign airport. As he stood with them and let the feeling of being back in Canada wash over him, Ami leaned in close and whispered just loud enough for him to hear over the noise of the terminal.

"Is that how Canadian girls dress? They look like vampires and lost girls."

"Some of them do. It's more of an expression of their inner selves than for the sake of fashion," he whispered back.

"We should keep moving and collect our bags from the baggage claim area," Haruka said, cutting into their conversation.

"Agreed. We don't know how far behind we are in this situation," Michiru added.

They proceeded to the baggage claim turntable and quickly collected their luggage. Their next stop was the airport gift store where Sean said they could get the map of the province. He left them sitting on a row of empty benches as he quickly went into the shop.

As they patiently waited for him to return, Ami pulled out her micro-computer and began to pull up the coordinates that her computer had determined was the location of their enemy's base. The other girls continued to look around at the people and the various sights that could be seen outside the large windows as they took in the exciting experience of being in a different country for the first time.

Sean returned with the map and they all went into a small nearby lounge area that was used for people with long layovers between flights. He opened up the map and laid it out on top of a small table that was surrounded by a group of chairs. When he was done opening up the map, he looked to Ami who still had her computer open and was ready to give him the coordinates that he needed.

"52 52'23?North 118 04'56?West."

Sean used the scale along the outside border of the map to pinpoint the spot where the two series of numbers intersected. He let a small gasp escape as the specified location registered. The other girls looked at him anxiously to tell them where they needed to go as none of them could read the name of the area that was printed on the map. They could see that the indicated area was shaded green which if it meant the same thing as it did in Japan, would mean it as some sort of park or wilderness area. That would make sense as it would be easy for the Dark Kingdom to hide in it for long periods of time and not be disturbed as they planned and plotted.

"It looks like we are going to Jasper National Park."

The girls nodded at the confirmation of their educated guess being proven correct. Sean stood up and told them to wait as he went back to the gift store to get a map for Jasper National Park. When he returned, he unfolded it and laid it out over the provincial map. He then used the coordinates and the map's border again to narrow their search area down. He was silent for a minute as his fingers traced along the paper surface. He then looked back at the map of Alberta. He was clearly plotting the route they would need to take to reach the location in the quickest time possible. The girls remained silent to let him think and focus on the task.

He turned his head and reached over to a cup of pens that were left out on a small side table for visitors. He reached into his small travel bag and pulled out a piece of scrap paper and jotted down some directions in Japanese. They suspected that was so they could read them as well and not be totally dependent on him once they began to travel. For that, they were very appreciative.

"We will need to rent a vehicle. It's a three hour trip to the park from here and we need to get moving now." Sean informed the group.

"Are you sure you can handle driving for that long so soon after a long flight?" Minako asked.

"I can drive for part of it if that will makes things easier." Haruka offered.

"Thank you for your concern Minako. I will be fine, and thank you as well for the offer Haruka. However, we can't afford any delays in our endeavour. I am the only one of us with a valid driver's licence in this country. That will prevent any setbacks from any police that we encounter if there are any roadblocks or obstacles along the way." Sean replied back.

The girls nodded in agreement to Sean's reasoning. They got up and located the airport's rental car desk. They checked out a mid-sized minivan that would give them enough room for the six of them plus their luggage. After loading up the vehicle and taking their seats, they pulled out of the airport parking lot with Ami in the front passenger seat to act as the navigator.

Far ahead of them, Apachite was sitting on his throne. The anticipation of his grand plan finally coming to its climax was filling him up with almost unbearable level of tension. He was so close to achieving what Queen Beryl could not, that he was practically salivating with anticipation.

In front of him the bank of television monitors were continuing to feed him information on the global unrest that he had helped set into motion over the past decade and a half. The major news outlets were reporting on the civil unrest in Libya as the rebel forces were continuing to clash with their former dictator's armies. The various images of explosions and groups of soldiers waving automatic weapons warmed his cold dead heart.

"Master Apachite, I have news that requires your immediate attention."

He turned his head to face Ninjana before him. Her head and upper body were tilted down in a respectful bow as she waited for him to acknowledge her. Her right arm was crossed over her chest with her clenched fist placed over where her heart would have been if she had one. She lifted her head slightly so that she could see her master from the top of her line of vision. When he gestured with his hand for her to rise up and give her report, she straightened up and quickly prepared herself.

"Our spy at the Edmonton international airport has just reported that some members of the Sailor team have just arrived and are heading this way. They left a few minutes ago which would put them at our doorstep in about three hours' time. Also, one of our minions in Japan reported that another group of Sailors had a meeting with Takashi Hino several hours ago. It is entirely possible that they could have learned about our master plan and are attempting to stop it."

Apachite did not respond at first. He could not prevent the small tingle of fear that crept from somewhere deep inside. He had been afraid that this might happen. In their Sailor forms he would not even be able to damage them in a direct assault. That is why he had wisely chosen to work in the shadows and not take any unnecessary chances that could get him on their radar. Up until now, his plan had proceeded flawlessly, and was on the verge of completion. He shook his head and turned to look at his lieutenant. His facial expression was alive with anger and clear frustration.

"Do you have any idea what this means? With Deadspike destroyed, we no longer have any monsters or servants that can withstand the Sailors' powers."

Ninjana kept silent as she watched her master stand and begin pacing around his throne. She was well aware of the seriousness of their situation. Apachite was correct that Deadspike was the only monster that had the ability and strength to go toe to toe with the Sailor team and their increased powers. With it gone, the remaining members of their army wouldn't stand a chance against them. At best, what was left of their servants would buy them a few extra minutes but the Sailors would eventually make it inside their base with minimal resistance. Her eyes caught her master's movement as he spun around and looked directly at her again.

"Have you completed the final preparations yet? Are we finally ready to bring about the glorious darkness to this rancid excuse for a world?

"Soon, Master. We are just finishing up the final pieces. We will be done in about five and half hours."

"Then go and get it done now."

Ninjana bowed her head and quickly spun on her boot heel. She began to walk quickly out of the room as her focus became completely on fulfilling her master's orders. She was almost out of the command center when she heard Apachite call her name again.

"Ninjana."

She stopped and turned to look back at him. She locked her black eyes with Apachite's as she waited for the additional orders that she assumed was the reason he had stopped her departure.

"Do not fail me this time, or you won't have to worry about the Sailors killing you again."

She nodded her head once to show that she understood the gravity of her assignment. She turned around again and quickly disappeared from view in a series of noticeable air ripples. After she was gone, Apachite turned back to the television monitors to see if there were any new developments occurring across the world that would ease the intense frustration he was feeling.

"Problems Apachite?"

He turned to look at the source of the voice. He sneered and turned his head back to the screens. It was clear that he did not think highly of the person talking to him, and his contempt for them was so thick that it could almost be tasted. Not breaking his focus on the monitors, he answered the simple question that was posed to him.

"No. No problem whatsoever. We are still proceeding on schedule."

"The Sailors' approach does not complicate our plans at all then?"

"Their potential involvement was something that we knew was going to happen eventually, and thus factored into our overall plans. That is why we had to move carefully to avoid attracting their attention for as long as we could so we could get to this point. However, we are in the final stages and will be done before they even get here. I can assure you that before this day is over, this rotten planet will be given the fate it deserves."

As he finished his statement, he stiffened his shoulders and tilted his body away from the person standing near him. This was to let them know that he was done talking and he wished to be left alone. The message seemed to be correctly received as the shadowy person turned and left the room. This left Apachite, once again, alone in the dimly lit room with the flickering light of the television monitors creating.


	12. The War Resumed

1Chapter 11: The War Resumed

"Turn in here Sean."

Sean turned the minivan onto a paved road marked by a sign announcing the route to Jasper National Park. They drove down the road for another ten minutes before passing through the park's entrance and a large black and white Canadian federal government sign that indicated the border of the park's territory. They pulled into an area that was labelled as being part of the Roche Miette campground where they found an empty spot and parked the van. Once the vehicle was fully stopped, the side panel doors opened up and one by one and the young group of females piled out of the van and proceeded to stretch their stiff and somewhat tired muscles.

It had been a long car ride the entire trip took three hours and fifteen minutes since they left the Edmonton International Airport. They had encountered some mild traffic along the way, but had still been able to move at a good speed while still obeying all the local traffic laws. As Sean had pointed out, they couldn't afford to be stopped by any police officers for any reason and thus be delayed or even prevented from reaching their final destination.

Ami got out of the passenger seat and pulled out her micro-computer. She opened it up and began to rapidly type in a series of commands in the hopes of determining the direction they needed to go to reach the Dark Kingdom's base. Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru walked around to the back of the van and opened the truck. They began to sort through the assorted pieces of luggage to gather the supplies that they felt they were going to need.

Minako leaned against the side of the van as Sean came around from the other side and took a position beside her. They could see part of a large body of water that had to be part of Celestine Lake. They both stayed silent as they watched the water's surface gently ripple and flow as the gentle wind licked the surface.

They were too far away to see the shoreline but they imagined it was rocky or sandy with pieces of driftwood scattered along it. On the far side of the water were tall thick pine trees lining the area above the water's edge. Far away in the distance were a line of enormous grey mountains that ran parallel to the tree and shore lines. They could see the white caps and thin white lines that ran down the faces of each mountains indicating the presence of snow. It reminded Minako of the pictures of Mt. Fuji back home and how the snow and ice decorated the top of it as well.

"You know Makoto's descriptions of Canada didn't do it justice. It is far more beautiful than she lead us to believe."

"Makoto's been to Canada?"

"Yes. She came here when she had to find Nephrite's HI stone which contained his positive energy. We needed it to save Mamoru's life when he had been injured by the Opposito Senshi."

Ami had told him about them during their flight across the Pacific Ocean. The Opposito Senshi were a group of young female warriors from the 31st century during what was to be known as the Crystal Millennium. They were led by a shaman named Apsu who formed the terrorist group, Hell Destiny, with the goal of obtaining the Silver Moon Crystal which she believed would cure her fatal illness.

She sent the Opposito Senshi into the past to combat the Inner Sailors, who they were modeled after, and also to disrupt key events in the Sailors' timeline. These altercations caused the resurrections of several past enemies, including Queen Beryl and Prince Diamond of the Black Moon Clan.

During one of the first encounters with the Opposito Senshi, Tuxedo Mask was severely injured while defending Sailor Moon. The nature of the attack caused Tuxedo Mask to slowly weaken as the mystical poison drained his life energy. In order to save him, the Inner Sailors minus Sailor Moon had to travel to several points around the world to locate the HI stones of Kunzite, Jadeite, Nephlite and Zosite. They were once Prince Endyimon's, Mamoru's former identity, trusted guardians before being corrupted by Queens Beryl and Metallia. It was that past connection that would allow Mamoru to heal himself once their HI stones were placed around him because the stones contained all the individual positive energy from each of them. Sailor Mercury had gone to Switzerland, Sailor Mars to Tibet, Sailor Venus to Turkey and Sailor Jupiter to Canada.

Sean was silent as he thought about what Minako said. He knew that a lot had happened to his friends during the period of time that he had been away. After the incident at the airport he and the girls had gone to the Fruit Parlour for tea and smoothies so they could rekindle their friendships and allow them to get caught up with everything that had been going on since they last saw each other.

They had been gradually telling him about their battles against the Black Moon clan and the Death Busters between the several other non-Sailor related topics before Haruka had contacted Ami. They had talked some more as they had waited for the Outer Sailors to arrive at the Bayside Walkway, but he knew that there was much more for them to tell. He didn't like not knowing everything, especially if it concerned Makoto but in hindsight, he had thought they had all the opportunity in the world and that there was no need to rush his friends in telling him everything. He had just been happy and content to be with his friends again after being on his own for over a year.

The sudden sound of Minako's voice again cut through his thoughts and caused him to shake his head a few times to refocused his attention.

"If it looked anything like this I can see why she spoke so fondly of Marine National Park."

"It's similar but still very different. The forests and trees are alike but there aren't as many mountains there, just tall hills and cliffs."

"You have been there as well?"

"Yes. It's in my former home province of Ontario. That's two provinces to the east from here."

He gestured with his hand to indicate which direction was east. Minako turned her head and looked to the east and the sights that were in that direction. She was smart enough to know that she wouldn't be able to see Marine National Park but it still allowed her to see some more of their surrounding environment. After a minute, she turned her head back around and looked back at her friend. She smiled and Sean returned the friendly sentiment. It was important for them to take whatever pleasures they could, since they both knew that in a short amount of time they would more than likely be in another epic fight for their lives.

"Everyone. I have found the Dark Kingdom's base."

"Where is it Ami?"

Sean pushed himself off the side of the van as he spoke. His tone of voice becoming serious and direct as his sense of duty took over. Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru closed the back of the van after putting together the essential items into a pair of easily transportable bags. They joined the others to hear Ami's response.

"It's in that mountain over there."

Ami lifted her hand to point to a huge mountain that was a fairly good distance. It was located in the opposite direction from the lake that Sean and Minako had been admiring.

Sean walked around Ami and opened the front passenger door of the van. He reached in and pulled out the map of the park. He closed the door and placed the map on the hood of the van before unfolding it. In a matter of seconds, he quickly found where they were. The map identified the lake as Brule Lake. He turned around to look at the mountain again.

"That's Whitecap Mountain."

"Well, the name certainly suits the description."

No one responded to Michiru's comment as they each looked at the mountain. Somewhere in that mass of rock and stone was their enemy who was lying in wait as they planned and plotted. Sean shook his head to break the mountain's hold on him. He opened the van's door again and reached in to grab his travel bag that he had prepared while on the flight. He locked and closed the door with a strong push before turning around to regard his friends and partners in this dangerous endeavour.

"Get what you need and let's get moving. We have a lot of ground to cover and no idea how much time we have left." He stated flatly to the group.

The young women nodded and quickly set out to ensure that they got everything they would need. When they were finally set, they locked up the van and started heading northwest on a direct route towards the mountain that was going to be the battleground for their first real encounter with the Dark Kingdom after a couple of years.

Several miles ahead of the Sailors, deep within the body of the snow-topped mountain known as Whitecap, Apachite paced anxiously around the open area of his throne room. He had not yet heard back from Ninjana with her confirmation on the completion of the final preparations in his grand plan. He was well aware that the Sailor team had just arrived in Jasper National Park and would be there shortly. He only had a couple hours until they reached the base of the mountain and be essentially on his doorstep.

A monster named Deathreaper appeared in a sudden whirlwind of black smoke. Apachite spun around to complete another lap of eager pacing and saw the new arrival. It was clear that it had urgent news to report to him. It was usually Ninjana who spoke directly to him and acted as a relay of information between him and his soldiers. The fact that Deathreaper was here meant one of two things: Ninjana was still busy with her assignment, or she had been destroyed again either by the Sailors or someone else. If the latter was true, this monster was intending to be his new conduit. In either case, the outcome was not what he wanted but he had to make due and quickly come up with a way to salvage this entire operation.

"What is it Deathreaper? What do you have to report?"

"Master, the Sailors and Carnage have just arrived in the park and are heading this way. At their current speed, they will reach the mountain's base in two hours or less."

"I am aware of that you moron. Is there any word from Ninjana?"

"No my lord. I believe she is still busy with her assignment."

"Dammit. Alright. Watch and monitor the Sailors' progress in the park in the meantime. Gather every available monster in our army and be ready to strike. Send half of them to Tokyo to destroy the Sailor members still there and leave the other half to deal with our approaching guests. When they reach the base of the mountain, give the attack order and kill them."

"Yes sir, it will be done at once."

Deathreaper quickly turned and left to begin amassing the two strike forces and make any necessary preparations for the impending battles. Apachite resumed his pacing through the open area of the command center. He placed his hands back behind him to keep them from violently striking anything in a fit of uncontrolled frustration. He didn't need the added aggravation of damaging a vital piece of equipment because of the temporary loss of his temper.

"Don't fail me Ninjana. Finish your mission and get back here."

In Tokyo, Usagi, Rei, and the others were gathered at Mamoru's upscale apartment. They had all gone there as soon as Usagi was done with her family event and was able to get away. It was very important for all of them to stay informed about what was going on and to be aware of what could possibly be coming their way.

Rei had been consulting the Shrine's sacred fire since she returned to the Shrine. The dancing flames that connected her to the spirit world had offered her only a single vision after several hours of desperate pleading. In the visual premonition, she saw the world exploding in a series of bright flashes of brilliant white light. The flashes of white light had hurt her eyes even though they were closed. She knew that the heat was related to the vision and not merely because of her proximity to the sacred fires because she had become immune to the feeling of a fire's temperature on her body due to her many years of fire reading and her more recent years as Sailor Mars. The ominous presentiment she saw reminded her of the vision she had when the DeathBusters, and their leader, Master Pharaoh 90 began their assault on Earth. She theorized that the intense power she felt in this vision was telling her that whatever the premonition was warning her about was going to happen soon.

"So your father was involved in the upgrades to the national defense computers?" Mamoru asked.

"Yes. His political connections and influences got the approval from the military to the private contractor who performed the upgrades."

"Did he say the name of the private company?" Mamoru pressed.

"No he didn't. He just gave us a few vague sentences about it. Makoto did ask him to expand but he refused by citing it was in the best interests of national security to not discuss it further." Rei replied back with a clear tone of frustration in her voice.

"Hmm. With no name, we can't research them any further and I don't have the technology or the computer skills to find that kind of information." Mamoru said.

"It's ok Mamo-chan. We aren't even sure if this has anything to do with our enemy. Rei's father must have several different things on the go right now not to mention the many past projects he was involved with that he didn't tell us about. The picture in that folder had no time stamp so we have no idea if it was taken last week or last month." Setsuna said, trying to sound reassuring.

The group became silent as that frustrating fact settled inside them. It bothered them that they did not have something more concrete to work with and were at a dead-end in terms of learning more about their old enemy and their newest plot against Earth. All they could do was wait to hear back from the team in Canada and hope they were having better luck with their mission.

As they quietly sat around the living room of Mamoru's posh apartment, a loud explosion cut through the quiet mid-afternoon air. They looked at each other and exchanged various expressions of shock, surprise, and realization as they all recognized what had just happened. In a blur of movement, they moved in unison to the balcony and peered out over the railing at the city. They eagerly began searching for the source of the loud boom.

In the distance, about a mile away, large pillars of black smoke billowed into the clear blue sky. Faint sounds of people screaming and began to echo along the gentle wind. Something was happening, something bad, and the Sailor team was needed.

Usagi, who stood between her friends and boyfriend, turned her head first to the left and then the right. Each of them felt her stare and turned to look at her and break their focus on the black smoke that was serving as a beacon for trouble.

"It looks like the Dark Kingdom is finally attacking. Are you ready Sailors?"

"Yes we are." They replied together.

"Then let's go."

Each of them pulled out their transformation wands and held them out above their heads. Mamoru likewise pulled out a single red rose from the inside pocket of his dark green sports jacket. The rose instantly began to flash as he mentally willed his transformation to occur. A bright glow of black light completely engulfed him. In seconds, a long black cape appeared from the top of his shoulders and his civilian clothes were instantly replaced with an elegant black tuxedo and tall top hat. A pair of white dress gloves, shiny black shoes, and a white mask completed his transformation. As he underwent his costume change, the Sailors were also in the process completing their own transformations.

"Phobos Deimos Castle of Mars Make-up."

"Io Castle of Jupiter Make-up."

"Charon Castle of Pluto Make-up."

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Make-Up."

Once they were changed into their respective Sailor personas, they leapt from Mamoru's balcony. They began to move together as they hurried along the rooftops towards the growing sounds of death and despair.

With their augmented speed and physical endurance they reached the site of the chaos. They stopped at the same time and stood on the edge of a roof. They peered down towards the street to take in the situation before making their presences known. What they saw was something that both angered them and sent chills down their spines.

Several black robed monsters moved up and down the street. They were physically grabbing any innocent bystanders in the vicinity or using powerful energy blasts to destroy anything that caught their attention. From their vantage point, they could see the clawed hands with yellow or green skin of the monsters as they protruded out from underneath the large sleeves of their robes.

The attacking beasts had still not yet noticed the Sailor team's arrival which still gave them the element of surprise. When one of the monsters snatched a young teenage girl, as she frantically tried to flee, they knew it was time to act.

"Stop right there. People deserve the right to walk down the street with no fear. We will not let you ruin the peace and quiet of this beautiful afternoon with your evil. For love and justice, I am the Sailor suited pretty Soldier, Sailor Moon. In the name of the moon … I will punish you."

The other Sailors and Tuxedo Mask remained silent as Sailor Moon made her introductory speech. When she was done, they all simultaneously dropped down to the street and got into their individual battle stances. The group of Druid-looking monsters watched and began to laugh hysterically. Their inhuman and demonic laughter reminded Sailor Mars and Moon of the demon prince Gaap's unholy howl and how it had chilled their spines like ice.

These monsters reminded Sailor Moon of wraiths from that 'Lord of the Rings' movie she had seen her younger brother, Shingo, watching. However, even closer to home than that, it brought the memories of the Black Moon's leader, the Death Phantom, to the forefront of her mind. Sailor Moon couldn't stop the small physical shiver that shook her body as she saw the harbinger of death from the future flash across her eyes. It was at that point that the monsters stopped their humorous chorus and one of them pointed a black skeletal index finger directly at them.

"We knew that if we caused enough destruction it would draw you Sailors out. This was so much easier than wasting time and looking for you directly." One of the monsters snarled at them.

"You found us. Are you ready to experience defeat like the others who followed Queen Beryl?" Sailor Jupiter countered.

"It is you who will feel the pang of defeat today. You fools have fallen into our trap." Another monster retorted.

"Trap? What are you talking about?" Sailor Moon asked.

The lead monster gave no verbal response. He instead raised his arms over his head and opened his thin black skeletal fingers, palms facing skyward. In a flash of white light, dozens of monsters of various shapes and sizes appeared around the group of young warriors. Some of the monsters dropped from their hiding places along the rooftops of while others simply appeared out of thin air. They all quickly took positions around the Sailors and completely surrounded them effectively trapping them in the center of their 'ring of death.'

They were using the centuries old military strategy of encirclement. The purpose was to restrict the Sailors' movements by reducing the open space between them and then attack from all sides at once. Sailor Mars and Tuxedo Mask quickly realized this and motioned with their hands for the others to back up so that they could stand together back to back. This allowed them to see in all directions and all of the attacking creatures.

"Sailors, 'Riot Police' now."

"What is that Mars?"

Sailor Mars risked a glance over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at Sailor Moon. She didn't waste any time with a response as the circle of enemy monsters began to pucker down indicating they were about to charge. The cold stare she gave her was enough to make Sailor Moon bite her lower lip. She had gotten that look many times since she had first met Rei over two years ago at the Hikawa Shrine.

"Sailor Moon, use your tier." Sailor Jupiter quickly whispered over her shoulder as she did not want to take her eyes off the monsters in front of her.

"Oh. She could have just said that."

No one responded to her sarcastic comment as one of the Druid-looking monsters raised its hand over its head again. A second later it dropped the limb in a quick chopping motion. This was clearly the signal for the other creatures to attack. The Sailors and Tuxedo Mask readied themselves and firmly planted their feet on the ground. They pressed their backs tightly together in a futile attempt to put as much space between them and the rapidly approaching demonic hordes as possible. One by one, each of them unleashed their most powerful multiple opponent attacks at the advancing crowd of monsters.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution."

"Burning Mandala."

"Cronus Cyclone."

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss."

"Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber."

In a flurry of motion and brightly coloured lights flames and various shapes of concentrated energy radiated out from each of the Sailors' bodies and/or weapons. In response, the monsters stopped their forward charge when they saw the incoming barrage of blasts. Some of the more agile beasts were able to dodge out of the way while many were not so lucky. The fire discs from Sailor Mars ignited and burned their bodies to ash while the energy tornado from Sailor Pluto engulfed several targets at once and ripped the flesh from their bodies with its skin-tearing winds. The energy rays and leaves from Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter respectively vaporized their targets upon impact, and the energy blast from Tuxedo Mask caused several monsters to be blown apart instantly. In only a matter of seconds, the army of over a hundred creatures was drastically reduced to a mere handful. This included many of the black robed monsters that had initially caused the commotion.

Tuxedo Mask didn't waste any time as he began to engage the creatures that had managed to avoid their various attacks. He pulled out his indestructible cane and a couple of his razor-sharp tipped red roses. Normally, he would not use them in a lethal fashion and would choose instead to distract an opponent while the Sailors either regrouped or launched an attack of their own. However, he didn't have a choice in this situation. Any hesitation on his part when he had the chance to kill a monster could result in serious injury or death.

He flung a group of roses out in a wide horizontal arch at a batch of incoming Dark Kingdom minions. The diamond-hard stems hit each of the monsters through their foreheads and pierced through whatever bones were present into what passed for brains, killing them instantly. As their lifeless bodies fell to the ground, the incoming sound of heavy footsteps drew his attention to his left. He turned his head and quickly threw his cane up across the front of his body as a downward swipe from a pair of three foot long claws came dangerously close to slicing his neck open.

The force of the attacking creature's forward momentum knocked him backwards and caused him to fall onto the hard concrete with the feral beast landing on top of him. He kept his cane up and over his body to serve as a makeshift obstacle to keep the beast from getting any closer and landing a mortal wound with its teeth or claws. His left hand reached up and gripped a free spot on the cane next to his right. This gave him a little more strength and leverage to maintain the stalemate he was engaged in. He knew he couldn't keep this up forever. He may have greater strength than an average man but he was fairly certain that this monster had a far more ample level of physical power. He had to figure out a way to first get this abomination off of him and then get back to his feet quickly.

"Tuxedo Mask!"

The frantic cry of his one true love cut through his manic thought process. He didn't dare take his eyes off his opponent to look at her as he knew that doing so could give the monster the opportunity to get close enough to bite him. Luckily, the creature was the one that ended up making that very mistake. It lifted its head to look over at Sailor Moon who was standing about ten feet away. She made no moves towards them, as she was aware that the beast would kill him before she could. His close proximity also made it impossible for her to use any of her own attacks. All she could do was watch and tremble with complete helplessness as he struggled with the bloodthirsty beast.

He took the monster's momentary lapse in focus and threw it up and over him causing it to land behind him in a perfectly executed judo throw. The creature landed hard on the pavement as Tuxedo Mask scrambled to his feet and quickly put some distance between them. Almost instantly, Sailor Pluto began to twirl her long metal staff to collect the ambient energy around her. She used the garnet jewel on the end of her staff to focus it into a large neon pink sphere. When she had gathered the sufficient amount she spun around on her knee high white boots and used the momentum to hurl the orb at the monster as it picked itself off the ground.

"Dead Scream."

The energy blast struck the creature and violently flung it back. As it sailed through the air, its body rapidly crumbled into a fine dust and became scattered by the wind currents that were created by the energy sphere's passage through the open space. Once she had made sure that it had connected with her target, Sailor Pluto did not stop to watch the end results of her attack. She spun back around to scan for the next nearest opponent.

Now that their enemies' forces were severely thinned out, the Sailors followed Sailor Pluto's lead and switched to their single opponent attacks for the cleanup. Each of them chose an opponent and squared off with them. It was clear that the monsters' morale had been greatly reduced with the almost complete decimation of their numbers. The Sailors even saw a look of fear flash across several of their faces. They were a little surprised when the creatures did not retreat as many of their Dark Kingdom predecessors had done in the past. Just like before, the Sailors launched their powerful attacks one by one.

"Fire Snake."

"Sparkling Wide Pressure."

"Dead Scream."

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss."

"Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber."

A few minutes later, it was finally over. The army was no more. The Sailors and Tuxedo Mask lowered their hands and surveyed the area to make sure that there were no more monsters lurking in any of the alleys or rooftops around them. They did not want any more innocent civilians to die by the Dark Kingdom's.

Once they were satisfied that the area was completely secured, they began to hear the unmistakable sounds of approaching police and emergency service officials. They quickly jumped to the nearest rooftop and watched as the rescue workers quickly descended onto the scene of the battle and begin to treat any wounded people and/or evaluate the damage caused by their scrimmage.

Sailor Jupiter, who was standing at the far end of the line of warriors she and her friends formed as they watched the scene unfold beneath them, turned to look at her friends.

"We need to contact the others and warn them. They need to be aware that the Dark Kingdom has begun to move directly against us."

The other girls, and Tuxedo Mask, nodded in agreement. Sailor Moon pulled her pink cellphone-shaped communicator out and turned to walk towards the center of the rooftop. The others followed.

"Ami. Come in. Minako, can you hear me? Sean? Anyone?"

Her voice became more scratchy and higher pitched with each name she said. The video screen on the top part of the communicator remained black as the call could not be connected on the other end. She looked up at her friends who had gathered around her. Her blue eyes clearly expressed her concern that the Dark Kingdom may have succeeded with them there when they had failed here. The others remained silent as they all considered the scenario. They wouldn't allow themselves to believe that their friends had fallen to the Dark Kingdom's forces. There had to be another reason for them to not answer Sailor Moon's transmission. All they could do was hope and pray that they were alright and would hear the beeping from their communicators and contact them as soon as they could.

End of Chapter 11


	13. Battle and Betrayal

Chapter 12: Battle and Betrayal

"I don't see any openings or ways to get inside the mountain from here."

The girls and Sean had finally managed to reach the base of Whitecap Mountain. They had made really good time by sprinting during any flat areas and thus conserved their energy for any rocky or uneven terrain. Hotaru was the slowest of the group due to her physical size and age, so Sean stayed behind with her as Haruka and Michiru took the lead in front. Ami had her computer on a constant scan of the area as they moved along, so if any enemy soldiers appeared they would have ample warning time to properly prepare themselves.

The natural scenery they saw as they crossed the vast distance between them and the mountain had been beyond beautiful and in some cases, simply breathtaking. At one point during their trek, they had opted to bypass a steep drop into a ravine by choosing to go around it. They were then forced to cross the Snaring River and travel along its western banks for a short distance until the landscape leveled out enough so that they could resume their direct path. Around them, the visuals of the rocky shoreline and the various small islands of naturally eroded stone with the thin lines of greenery were something that the girls had never back home in Japan.

For Sean, it brought back several memories of his early days as a planetary defender shortly after he had permanently left his birth home in Ontario. He had briefly passed through Alberta a few times and only ended up staying in the cities of Edmonton and Medicine Hat before continuing west to British Columbia or east towards Saskatchewan. He had spent many nights out in the wilderness to avoid any police patrols or anyone else that might try to stop him or possibly be looking for him. Nearby, the sounds of the rolling river currents as they flowed alongside them offered a sense of inner peace that helped him in his own preparations for the incoming battle they knew was coming.

When they finally reached the base of the mountain, they cast their gazes up as they looked for any clue as to where they should proceed to next. From what they remembered about the map of the park that they had purchased at the airport indicated that the mountain was 2,864 meters in height. This did not make it the biggest mountain in the area but still an impressively large geological formation. Its width had to be over a mile in length and only added to the overall difficulty of the task that now lay before them.

Ami began to use her computer to scan the rocky formation and seek out any sort of entrance or pathway. It was entirely possible that the access point they needed could very well be on the other side of the mountain. However, it could take them days if not longer to search the formation's outer surface even if they did split up; which would not be the smartest thing to do given their situation.

After Minako made her comment about not seeing any obvious entry points, Ami's computer finally chirped loudly as it completed its initial survey of the current side of the vertical formation. The sound it made did not seem positive and came off as more of a buzz rather than a bing. Ami's facial expression only served to confirm this as she frowned and her brow furrowed as she looked at the analysis report displayed on the tiny screen. Around her, the other girls, Sean, and Artemis, who was sitting inside Minako's backpack, looked at her and anxiously awaited her response. Haruka and Michiru divided their gaze between looks at the mountain and back at their young friend as they continued their own search for an access point.

"My computer can't complete its scan from here due to the mountain's immense size. We need to get to a higher point so that it can scan the upper portions."

"Up there. There is a wide ledge you can use."

Everyone first looked to Michiru and then followed her extended arm. Sure enough, there was indeed what appeared to be a natural jut-out from the mountain's main body that looked sturdy enough to support the weight of a human being. It looked to be about three hundred meters above them. From their spots below, it was impossible for them to see how far out the ledge extended from the mountain. It could very well be only big enough for a couple of them which would mean that the others would have to remain on the ground. In unison, the girls lowered their heads and looked around at each other as they asked the same question. Who was going to climb up and check out the ledge?

"I'll go. My symbiote can help me scale the rocks faster than the rest of you."

Sean approached the base of the rocks as he spoke. Short tendrils of symbiotic tissue appeared out of the back of his shirt that was serving as his exterior camouflage. For a few seconds, the synthetic strands remained short and hovered around him in midair to remain at the ready in case Sean suddenly slipped or lost his footing.

Haruka and Michiru exchanged silent looks of luck as he passed by them. Ami continued to look at and type information into her computer while monitoring the surrounding area in case an enemy appeared. Minako and Hotaru clasped their hands together in a traditional gesture of prayer as they hoped that some divine entity would watch over their team mate and keep him safe.

It was not lost on any of them that what Sean was about to do was extremely dangerous. Rock climbing without any safety equipment was hazardous and since it was the Dark Kingdom's main base, if they should attack now, it would be near impossible for Sean to adequately defend himself.

The ledge looked to be about three hundred meters or more above them so it would take time for him to reach it. They watched him, with the exception of Ami, as he took his first few grips on the rocky petals and pressed his body firmly against the side of the rocks. He turned his feet sideways so the inside of them were against the side of the mountain. This would allow him to get more of his foot on the rocks and give him more support as he moved upwards. From there, he quickly moved his body in a zigzagging pattern as he followed the nearest available stone supports along the mountain's face. Each complete set of limb movements moved him another two meters closer to the ledge above him.

In about ten minutes his hand finally reached the jagged edge of the ledge. He gripped it with both hands and used his natural and symbiotic strength to pull himself up and over the ledge's lip until he was firmly on the relatively flat surface. He slowly stood up and carefully peered over the edge at his friends below to let them know he was alright. He pulled his older calculator-style communicator out and called Minako's. After a few seconds, her face appeared in the small circular video screen in the upper right corner of the communicator. From the top of his vision he could see the other girls down below move to take positions around her.

"How was the climb?"

"Not bad, I've done a lot harder. There is enough room up here for everyone but we should still conserve our energy for what may still be coming."

"I agree. What are you suggesting then?"

"I think Ami should come up here so she can use her computer to continue its scan of the mountain. Once that's done, we may know where to go from here."

"How will I get up there? I've never rock climb before."

Ami's voice betrayed her fear. She had certainly matured a great deal since her initial awakening as a sailor warrior, but there were still moments when the shy mousy girl she had once been would make an appearance. From his position above he saw her head tilt up as she looked at the side of the mountain and the intimidating façade it had. She was thinking of all the bad things that could happen to her if she attempted to scale the rocks just as he had a few minutes ago. Two of those thoughts were the fear of being in such a perilous position when their enemy was so close and her own personal definitions of what her physical limitations and skills were. He had to do something or she would continue to psyche herself out and lose the confidence she desperately needed right now.

Normally, he would try to encourage her to try it and complete the task all by herself so that she would get that sense of accomplishment. However, time was of the essence and something they just couldn't spare. There was only one thing he could do that would get Ami up quickly and safely. He looked back down at the video screen as Minako silently waited for his response to Ami's comment.

"I am going to bring Ami here."

"What? How? "

Sean didn't bother to answer Ami's question. He lowered himself down to one knee as he clicked off the communicator and returned it to its spot beneath the symbiotic tissue covering the outer part of his right thigh. He extended his left arm out and the symbiote's natural crimson skin came into view as it abandoned its disguise as the sleeve of a polo shirt. His costume's organic living skin became red and black on his lower left forearm and hand but remained in disguise from the elbow up. He mentally talked with his partner as they went over the task one more time. He then sent a thick tendril down to the girls' location. The amount of biological material needed to achieve the proper length and tensile strength put a severe strain on the symbiote's personal elasticity. This caused it to shift its body mass from other parts of Sean's body to the extended arm drawing more and more material so that it could continue to stretch downwards and cover the one hundred plus meters between them. This created a clear divide between his human skin and the clothing that was currently acting as the symbiote's camouflage. He placed his right hand flat on the ground and braced his body for what was going to happen next.

Down below, Ami and the others all stared at the thick alien vine that was hanging in front of them. They understood what Sean's intention was, but it was still more than a little unsettling to see it in action. In both Ami and Minako's minds, the memory of seeing Usagi encased in the symbiote shortly after they had defeated Gaap resurfaced. They knew this was a completely different situation, but the basis was still the same, putting their total trust and faith in the symbiote.

Ami steadied herself and took a deep breath to calm down before slowly walking towards the symbiotic strand. She trusted Sean as much as she trusted any of her other friends: completely and unconditionally. She let the deep breath empty out of her lungs as she watched the thick tendril quickly encircle her and wrap itself tightly around her slim waist. Once she was firmly in its grasp, she felt her body lift off the ground and quickly move upwards as the symbiotic material retracted back to the main body. In less than a minute, she found herself being gently placed up onto the ledge in front of Sean. When her feet were firmly on the ground, he let go of her and the symbiote further retracted before re-camouflaging itself. Ami quickly reopened her computer and accessed the program she had been using to scan the outside of the mountain's surface. As the computer's software booted up another program that had been continuously running, began to beep rapidly and with an increasing audio intensity.

"Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it does."

Ami did not voice any response to his question but the look on her face clearly answered it for him. Her eyes snapped wide open and her face tightened into an expression of deep nervousness. She pulled out her communicator and quickly called Minako. When the call connected Ami didn't wait for her to speak.

"Transform now!"

Before Minako could utter any sort of response the air around them simmered and rippled. Small groups of monsters, creatures, and other inhuman beasts began to appear. They were completely surrounded by what looked to be over a hundred assorted beasts of various shapes and sizes. Instinctively, Minako and the others backed up until they felt the base of the mountain's rocks under their heels and they stood together and faced the ring of inhuman abominations threatening them. One by one, they produced their individual transformation rods and each shouted out their activation phrases.

"Magellan Castle of Venus Make-Up."

"Triton Castle of Neptune Make-Up."

"Miranda Castle of Uranus Make-Up."

"Titan Castle of Saturn Make-Up."

High above them in the clear blue afternoon sky, four stars of different colours suddenly became visible. Each of the stars shined a beam of different coloured light down onto each of the young women. In a series of bright flashes of light each were transformed into their ultimate sailor identities and became the Eternal Sailor Soldiers. Once their changes were completed, Sailor Uranus raised her Space Sword while her partners, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Saturn lifted their Deep Aqua Mirror and Silence Glaive.

Up on the ledge, Sean and Ami turned to see fifteen creatures behind them. In their current location, the rock formation they were standing on was big enough to accommodate up to twelve people but with seventeen individuals of various body shapes it would be very difficult and extremely dangerous to engage in any sort of fight when the battle began. Without hesitation, Ami pulled her transformation rod out and held it above her head.

"Marina Castle of Mercury Make-Up."

A bright light blue star appeared in the sky and a beam of light blue luminance descended down and engulfed her in its warm glow. Its soft radiance grew brighter until it became almost blinding. A few seconds later, the light quickly dimmed and Eternal Sailor Mercury stood at the ready.

While this occured, thick curved strands of red symbiotic material reared up like a quiver of cobras behind Sean and wrapped themselves around him. They completely covered him from head to toe. The symbiote spread its body mass out as it evenly distributed it across Sean's frame. Large white eyes appeared on his head signalling the completion of his transformation into Carnage. He turned to look at Sailor Mercury. When she felt his glare and turned to meet his gaze, he gave her a small smile with his black needle-like teeth.

"Ready to go to work?"

Sailor Mercury only nodded as she remained solely focused on the group of enemies in front of them. Carnage turned his head back around and charged forward. As he covered the small distance between him and the nearest monster in two long strides, the symbiotic material on his hands swirled around and flared out as they morphed into a pair of razor-sharp curved blades. Several members of the swarm charged forward as well. Some of them swung their personal weapons as their target got within range. Carnage ducked under a wild swipe from one creature before delivering a backslash that cut deep across its mid-section. In response, the creature dropped to its knees as Carnage moved onto his next opponent. Sailor Mercury meanwhile was cutting down the attacking battalion's numbers by using her strongest multiple target attack.

"Mercury Aqua Mirage."

She collected the water particles in the surrounding air creating a large orb that then changed into a column of swirling water that circled around her body. When she felt the collected mass of cascading water had reached the proper amount, she thrust her arms out to her targeted group of monsters. While still maintaining full control of the water, she mentally divided the rapidly advancing liquid into several thick high powered streams. Some of the creatures jumped or twisted their bodies to avoid the incoming barrage but the hydro jets acted like heat-seeking missiles and chased each of them until they physically connected. Each monster became encased in a thick cocoon of ice before exploding and killing them.

Down below, the others were making short work of the much larger force of unholy minions that had made the mistake to attack them. Sailor Uranus's Space Sword was cutting them down two or three at a time. Sailor Venus' Rolling Heart Vibration attack, a large heart-shape mass of golden energy, was bowling her opponents over like bowling pins as the concentrated force of the energy instantly vaporized the monsters' bodies. Sailor Saturn was acting in a duel role as both an attacker and the team's chief defender. Any enemy that got too close for her liking was quickly cut down by the twin blades of her Silence Glaive while she scanned the battlefield to keep track of the remaining number of enemies and her team mates. A sudden movement in her peripheral vision off to her right caught her attention and she quickly turned her head so that she could see what it was more clearly.

Approximately twenty-three feet away from her was a lanky humanoid monster who was bringing its hands together. In the open space between its palms was a bright orange ball of energy. As she continued to watch, the orb grew in size until it was the size of a basketball. She quickly realized what it was about to do. She quickly planted the bottom of her glaive's staff in the ground, planted her feet, and tensed the large muscle groups along her body's small frame. She channeled her internal sailor power into the body of her weapon and focused it at the tip of the duel blades.

"Silence Wall."

Just as she had predicted, the creature thrust its arms and sent the massive blast of energy towards the lightly spread out group of sailors. The energy sphere surged forward and slammed into the semitransparent barrier Sailor Saturn had created. Not fazed at all, the monster continued the attack with another energy orb and then another. It assumed that the young warrior could not maintain the barrier's strength against a continuous barrage of attacks. For about a minute, the rapid fire of energy blasts continued before the beast ceased it as physical exhaustion overtook it. As the last of orange energy orbs disappeared Sailor Saturn allowed the barely visible wall to disappear from sight. Sailor Uranus rushed over and eliminated the beast before it could unleash another powerful series of energy blasts.

Back on the ledge, Sailor Mercury was doing her best to block and dodge a fury of punches from a thin muscular humanoid creature. The manner it threw punches reminded Ami of video clips depicting the sport of boxing she had seen as part of her research for a school project. It also made her remember a story that Makoto and Usagi had told her about their encounter with one of the seven rainbow crystal carriers, a monster named Boxey. In her eternal form, she was able to use her enhanced agility to keep ahead of the punches and successfully avoid them; but the monster's close proximity to her was enough to cause her some level of concern.

She ducked under a wild right cross and executed a perfectly placed openhanded punch into the creature's solar plexus. As she heard her opponent grunt in discomfort as the air pushed from its lungs, she followed it up with an uppercut to its chin that lifted the beast off the ground and sent it sailing over the edge of the ledge. She couldn't help but let a small smile creep across her lips as she made a mental note to thank Makoto and Rei for the self-defense lessons. As she straightened, up she turned around to find her next opponent. As her eyes panned back to the scene that was occurring directly behind her, her blue eyes suddenly widened as her brain quickly registered what she was seeing.

A few feet away from her was another Dark Kingdom soldier. This particular minion had its hand open and a blazing ball of fiery energy hovering about two inches above its palm. As she completed her turn, the monster pulled its arm back to throw the magical fireball. As her brain registered the terrifying image of the flesh searing projectile coming at her, it made her temporarily hesitate and thus slowed down her evasive maneuver. She barely managed to avoid a direct hit, but the impact of the blast striking the ground in front of her was powerful enough to cause her to jump back. When the soles of her boots landed back on the rocky surface again she quickly realized that she was now teetering on the edge of the ledge. Unable to halt the residual momentum of her backwards hop, she continued to fall backwards and off the side of the mountain.

"Mercury!"

Carnage had seen the blast from the creature hit the ground and Sailor Mercury's clumsy dodge. As he kept watching, he realized where she was going to land and screamed out her name. His body then became a red blur as he raced towards her. He hacked, slashed, and pushed any of the remaining monsters out of his way as he desperately rushed to cover the distance between them. He neared the spot where she had fallen and dived to the ground. He slid along the rough and jagged terrain until his head and arms rolled over the ledge's side. He thrust his arms down and managed to firmly grab her wrist, halting her rapid descent to the ground below.

"Got you."

Sailor Mercury breathed a sigh of relief. In her sailor form, she would have been been able to survive the fall but she would have suffered several injuries making her an easy target for any of the remaining Dark Kingdom creatures at the base of the mountain. She looked up at Carnage and gave him a small smile of gratitude.

Suddenly, he violently winced and she felt her body sway as the arm holding her jolted and jerked. She continued to look up and saw repeated flashes of orange light appearing behind Carnage. As she stared up at him, the way the symbiote was reacting after each flash allowed her to quickly figure out what was going on. He was being blasted from behind by the same monster that had attacked her.

Down below, the other sailors had just finished dispatching the last of the attacking horde and were looking to see how their two friends were fairing on the ledge. When each of their eyes found the spot where they were, the sight that greeted them was one that none of them not prepared for. Sailor Uranus and Neptune were the first to react as they raced towards the side of the mountain and began their rapid ascension towards the ledge to assist their friends.

The monster's repeated blasts of fire were quickly started to take their physical toll on Carnage. When he had first grabbed Mercury's wrist, he had managed to pull her up enough to get his feet underneath him while still remaining crouched. After the first seven blasts, he had fallen to his knees and the force from each hit was causing his body to gradually lurch forward as his strength was being drained. He was still on the edge of the ledge making it a dangerous situation. He couldn't defend himself while he was still holding onto Mercury, since the symbiote was doing double duty in both keeping her steady and anchoring his feet to the rocky ground. There was also no safe place to lower her down to too as it was a straight drop to the ground below. All he could do now was try to get Sailor Mercury back onto the ledge.

Inside his head, the symbiote was screaming out in discomfort as each blast further taxed its already high pain tolerance. It was simply bad luck that this particular monster's power was fire based. Fire was one of the things that the symbiote was weak against and each direct hit weakened his partner a great deal. It was still nowhere near the pain he had felt when he took the fireball attack from the demon prince Gaap. A laboured and stressed voice caught his attention which caused him to lower his white eyes.

"Carnage you have to let me go. The symbiote cannot handle any more flame attacks. There is no reason for both of us to get hurt. I can survive the fall."

Carnage ignored Sailor Mercury's pleas and let a quick chuckle escape her lipless mouth. Sailor Mercury kept her gaze on her team mate as she struggled to understand his strange reaction.

"What do we always say to each other? A sailor never leaves another sailor behind. I am not going to lose any of you again. I have already lost you twice and there is not going to be a third time."

Sailor Mercury's eyes instantly opened wider and became as large as dinner plates. Since their awakenings as Sailor Soldiers they had been actually killed by their enemies on two separate occasions. The first was by the Dark Kingdom during the first present day war, and then again more recently by Sailor Galaxia during the climatic final battle in the universe spanning 'Sailor Wars'. Carnage had known about the first one there was no way he could have possibly known about the second; not unless

"You felt Sailor Jupiter die again, didn't you?"

Carnage was silent for a few seconds as he tried again to pull her up. Another powerful fire blast sent him crashing onto his stomach. He grunted as he felt his chin strike the uneven rock and the surge of pain as it coursed through his body. The sudden jolt almost caused him to let go of Sailor Mercury, but he managed to maintain his firm grip on her wrist. She felt the muscles in her shoulder start to physically strain as her body weight and gravity continued to pull down on her joint. She looked down at Sailor Venus and Saturn who were looking up at her. She saw his head and part of his upper chest dangling over the edge of the ledge with the outstretched arm still holding tightly onto her. He returned her stare with his large white eyes and resumed the conversation they had just been having.

"Yes the love Jupiter and I share has created some sort of psychic link between us. I felt her life energy be extinguished when she fell up at the North Pole and then again a month ago when you were saving the world from the Shadow Galactica Empire. I cannot lose her or any of you ever again. I am not strong enough."

The blasts from the creature continued as the monster relished the position it currently had the young heroes in. It would pause after each blast to watch the living red skin writhe around in pain as a high pitched shriek followed every successfully hit. This was causing the situation to last a lot longer than it should and prolonged the torture that Carnage was in as his symbiote was being burned to death.

He felt his body sliding closer and closer towards the edge as the force of each impact blast caused him to violently shift his body's position further forward. He had to get Sailor Mercury back onto the ledge or take the risk of lowering her down to the ground soon or he would be blasted over the side with her. His symbiote kept mentally reminding him that there were still two monsters left on the ledge behind him; the one blasting him and another watching with cruel delight. They assumed that the other monsters that had been there had succumbed to the injuries Carnage had inflicted as he had charged through them to rescue Sailor Mercury.

Out of the corner of his left white eye, he saw a white gloved arm reach up and plant itself firmly against the top of the rock surface. A second later, another white gloved arm appeared holding a medium length sword adorned with various precious jewels and a golden hilt. Carnage let a small smile appear on his face and looked down to Mercury to silently tell her that everything was going to be alright.

Sure enough, Sailor Uranus and Neptune appeared as they pulled themselves over the edge of the rock formation. Both of monsters were too focused on the impending sight of Carnage being blasted over the edge to notice the new arrivals. It was only when Sailor Uranus was fully on top of the ledge that one of the monsters finally saw them. In a swift burst of speed, Sailor Uranus charged forward with her sword poised and ready. In response, the non fire monster charged as well. Its abrupt departure signaled to its partner about the new development that was occurring. It turned its head and saw Sailor Neptune running towards it. It quickly turned its body with the intention to aim the latest flaming fireball at her. Sailor Neptune did not break her stride as she raised her Deep Aqua Mirror. She pointed its reflective surface at her intended target as she closed the distance between them in only a few seconds.

"Submarine Reflection."

The mirror instantly began to glow and dozens of silvery shimmers of energy shot out from the glass towards the beast. There was no time for it to dodge or put up any a protective barrier to block the incoming metallic silver beams. All it could do was use the fireball in its hands and hope that it could get through the approaching power rays and hit the green haired female attacking it. It threw the blazing sphere as it aimed for the chest of its opponent. The orange orb struck the shiny shrapnel and was blown apart as the beams continued towards their target unrestricted. It didn't have time to register the event as the mirror's energy beams struck it in the chest and instantly burned it to cinders from the inside out.

Sailor Uranus had made quick work of the other monster. She had sliced one of its arms off before dissecting it with a horizontal backhand slash across its mid-section. She didn't bother watching the final moments as she spun on her white boots to first check on Sailor Neptune and then Carnage, who was finally lifting Sailor Mercury back onto the top of the ledge.

When Sailor Neptune had drawn the fire monster's attention, the symbiote had quickly pooled its remaining energy into the arm and shoulder that was still holding onto Sailor Mercury. A surge of strength lifted her up and put her back safely on to the ledge.

Both of them remained on their knees and breathed heavily as the physical exhaustion overwhelmed their bodies. They looked up at their saviours when they saw them slowly walk up to. They exchanged silent 'thank yous' and nods of compassionate acknowledgment. Sailor Neptune knelt beside Sailor Mercury and took a look at her shoulder that had been supporting her body weight for over five minutes. Sailor Uranus, in turn, extended her left arm out towards Carnage. He grasped her offered hand and she pulled him up to his feet.

"So I think we just proved that we are faster than you."

Carnage smiled at Sailor Uranus' playful jab to his earlier claim that he was the fastest rock climber of the group. He jokingly bowed to them in response. Both of the two older women smirked and even let a small chuckle pass through their lips. Sailor Mercury also gave a small smile as she felt the leftover tension leave her body.

Suddenly, a large white dome of energy appeared over the four of them on the ledge, and in a blink of an eye, they all disappeared into thin air. A second later down below, Sailor Venus and Saturn experienced the same abrupt phenomenon as the white energy shell appeared over them and transported them away. All around the area at the base of the mountain, it was once again quiet and the only signs that anything had occurred were some burnt patches of grass and a few piles of dirt.

When the blinding white light finally broke they found themselves inside a large dank cavern. Sailor Mercury pulled out her minicomputer and began to type in several key commands. As the others waited for her they scanned their new surroundings.

There was a huge array of television monitors against the far wall of the room. In the limited light of the flashing screens were creating an eerie tone in the darkness of the cavern. They could see that each screen showed a different global news agency and was depicting the latest news and from around the planet. They recognized some of the more famous news stations such as CNN, and NHK, which was the Japanese government's main news broadcaster. On each screen, the sound was turned off so the lack of audio added to the overpowering ominous feeling inside the area.

Along with the media center; there was a large stone chair sitting on a round platform in the center of the room. They also noticed the large electrical wires that were running from the television monitors and along the walls. They connected with several small wall mounted lights before proceeding down a small tunnel off to their left. They could hear the faint sound of a mechanical rumbling that they interpreted to mean that there was some kind of machine or generator down supplying the power needed for the lights and televisions.

"Where are we?"

"I am not exactly sure Venus, but I think we are inside the mountain."

Sailor Mercury's comment registered a sharp pang of dread inside each of them, including the Outer sailors. This had certainly not been the way they had wished to enter their enemy's main headquarters. It was clear that the white energy domes had been sent by someone to transport them to this location. This could only mean that they had wanted them here for some yet unknown reason, and they now had to be ready for anything. As of yet, they were still the only ones in the room and it was deathly silent. After a couple minutes with no attack and no sounds of anyone approaching, Sailor Uranus began to grow impatient.

"Enough of this. Show yourself Queen Beryl."

"Queen Beryl?"

The sailors and Carnage instinctively turned their heads in every direction as they all looked for the source of the voice. Above them, the high ceiling of the cavern made the voice echo off the stone walls. A second later, the sound of approaching footsteps further drew their attention. The repeating pattern and sound of the steps let them know that it was only one person that approached and not a swarm of multiple monsters or soldiers. A flash of movement caught the attention of Sailor Neptune.

"Up there everyone."

The rest of the sailors and Carnage all turned to look at Sailor Neptune and then to where she was pointing. In the dimly lit room, they could just barely make out a ledge about twenty feet off the ground. As they each focused their eyes on that specific area and tried to get them to adjust to the gloomy atmosphere they could only make out the faintest outline of a person. They could not see who it was but the voice had been unmistakably male. They continued to watch as he raised his arms up in front of him and a pair of violet energy orbs appeared above them. Upon their unexpected appearance, the sudden burst of radiance allowed them to see that his palms were facing up as the spheres of purple energy hovered over them. A second later, he clapped his hands together and merged the collected energy masses together. The two globes exploded outwards and completely illuminated the room. This allowed them to see the true vastness of the area they were in and, more importantly, the menacing-looking man above them.

The ceiling of the cavern looked to be more than forty feet above them and the width of the room had to be about sixty yards across. The sudden burst of lighting remained, signaling that this person had some degree of magical power that they would have to contend with.

He was dressed in a light grey uniform with red seams running along the collar and cuffs. A large jacket flap ran across his chest that was also outlined in the red ridges. He had long black hair that hung passed his shoulders neatly tied into a ponytail. From their angle on below him, they could see the tops of a pair of knee high brown boots and a glimpse of white gloves on his hands. On his shoulders was a pair of epaulettes that completed the military look of his outfit. The person's choice in clothing struck a nerve with both Sailor Mercury and Venus as the memories of the last time they had seen anyone in a similar looking outfit flashed across their eyes.

"You need not worry about that arrogant sack of filth. I am the leader of the Dark Kingdom now. I am the last and most powerful of the Dark Kingdom's generals, Apachite."

"But you can't be a general there were only four of them."

Sailor Mercury had trouble finishing her sentence as he confirmed what she had just been thinking. His uniform had indeed brought back the memories of Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite. All the pain and misery they had caused while under the Dark Kingdom's thrall was still something the Inner sailors had not completely gotten over yet. It was later found out that those four individuals had been once been the servants of Prince Endyimon back in the Earth Kingdom during the time of the Silver Millennium and their spirits had been returned to their former benevolent selves following the defeats of Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia. They had been later proven instrumental in helping the sailors save Mamoru when he had taken a powerful blow meant for Sailor Moon by the Opposito Senshi. It was a large step in the right direction towards their overall redemption; but there were still a long way ahead before the sailors could allow themselves to completely trust them.

"That pompous fool Beryl made the fatal mistake of demoting me when I wisely questioned her childish plan. The Dark Kingdom had been successful in accomplishing its goals for years. We killed thousands of people and stole their energy right under this planet's leaders' watch and there was no one to oppose us as we continued to do so. Then Beryl had to go and be an impatient sow and decide to directly attack the people of this planet and make our presence known. Her idea to create the Dark Agency was the final straw."

The mention of the Dark Agency caused Sailor Venus to visibly tense up. They had been the first enemy she had faced when she had awakened as a sailor warrior and took on the identity of Sailor V. She had not thought about them in years, and now she was about to face someone that predated them. She saw his eyes train and focus down solely on her. Her enemy's cold brown eyes bore holes through her like a pair of laser beams. He gave her a smile that dripped with both venom and supreme confidence.

"I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have you here Sailor Venus. I have wanted to kill you personally for quite some time."

"Well here I am. Take your best shot."

"Oh I intend too, and I will win. It seems only fitting that I be the one to kill the person who destroyed my lieutenant, Danburite."

Sailor Venus froze again as that name registered. Danburite had been the leader of the Dark Agency and the person she had killed to finally end their threat against the people of Japan. However, even more important than that, was that he had been the real identity of a person she had been quickly falling in love with. A person she had known only as Ace Kaitou. He had been a popular culture idol who appeared shortly after the Dark Agency began its plot to make young girls gain weight. He assisted the affected girls of Tokyo to lose the weight they had put on and later got his own television show. He continued to fight alongside Sailor V in very much the same way that Tuxedo Mask helped Sailor Moon and the other sailors. When his true nature was finally revealed during the final battle with the Dark Agency Sailor V had learned that he was originally named Adonis and had been a lowly foot soldier of the Moon Kingdom stationed on planet Venus. He had seen Princess Venus, which was Minako's name during the Silver Millennium, when she wasn't in her sailor uniform and fallen in love with her. However, his devotion was doomed to be hopeless and completely one-sided. In the aftermath of the final battle against her, he foretold that her love shall forever remain hopeless as well, as she would always put her duty before romance without hesitation.

"We won't let you win Apachite. We have stopped the Dark Kingdom before and we will do it again."

"You stupid little girls. You think I am foolish enough to attack you directly like that idiot Beryl? No I have learned from her mistakes. I have watched you for years and bore witness to your numerous victories against the Doom Tree, the Black Moon clan, the Death Busters, the Dead Moon Circus, and finally Galaxia. I know that I could never hope to defeat you all at once, or even one at a time. For that reason alone, I have chosen a much more satisfying way to obtain my final victory."

"We won't let you. Your army is gone and it's just you and us now."

"You still haven't figured it out, have you? Surely you all must have noticed the global unrest that has been occurring around the planet recently. Who do you think manipulated the global economy that caused the worldwide recession? I did. Just like how I sparked the civil revolutions in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Greece. I was the one that gave the terrorists the blueprints that caused the World Trade Center attacks and Madrid subway bombings. I was the one to unleash the earthquake that leveled the country of Haiti and made Hurricane Katrina powerful enough to cripple the southern coast of the United States. However, my greatest achievements by far were the Indonesian and Japanese tsunamis. Queen Beryl was very pleased with me when I created the first; not that I was ever seeking her approval. I was just more than happy to do it."

The rage and shock that was rapidly building inside the sailors was immeasurable. In their hearts, they all knew that everything he had just personally claimed responsibility for was indeed true. They had previously been in the company of absolute evil more times than they all cared to remember and they could tell when someone was completely filled with the entity of Chaos or just taking credit for something they had no part in. Apachite was the former, no question at all. All the death and destruction he had caused through his manipulations over the years were nothing compared to the anger they felt towards him for attacking their home country and killing thousands of their fellow countrymen and women.

"We will defeat you and avenge our country for your heinous crimes."

"Your country will no longer exist."

The sailors turned to look to the left part of the ledge where the new voice had come from. There was a small opening that more than likely lead to a staircase or another tunnel. In the opening was another man. Both the sailors and Carnage had been so focused on Apachite that they hadn't noticed his appearance in the entryway. From the looks of him, the second man looked to be much older than Apachite, looking to be somewhere in his late sixties or early seventies. He had silver white hair that was combed back and looked to be held in place by gel. He was clad in an expensive looking elephant grey double breasted suit. He wore a pair of thin rimmed glasses and a thick greying moustache completed his appearance.

The sailors looked at the new arrival but their expressions did not change. If this monster wearing the human glamour wanted to meet the same fate as its master, that was fine by them. They were determined to destroy the Dark Kingdom once and for all and this monster announcing its presence was only making their job easier. They readied themselves to begin the battle by planting their feet into the ground and getting their hands in position to start collecting the required energy needed to launch their most powerful attacks. Sailor Uranus raised her Space Sword while Sailor Saturn tightly griped the staff of her Silence Glaive. The sudden sound of Carnage's voice halted their various battle preparations.

He had been silent since their arrival inside the base and through Apachite's revelations of everything he had. However; the single word he uttered was enough to make the sailors stop and take notice.

"You?"

Sailor Neptune, who was standing next to Carnage, whispered to him over her shoulder. In the last few seconds, the room had again fallen silent enough for her question to be heard by everyone present.

"Carnage do you know him?"

"Yes. He is Edward Ashford. He is, or was, the leader of the Illuminati Council."

End of Chapter 12


	14. The Road to Hell

Chapter 13: The Road to Hell

"What? He is the leader of the Illuminati? I thought you told us that they were on our side, that they _protected_ the planet."

Carnage didn't look at Sailor Uranus but he could feel her intense stare. He knew that she was demanding some kind of response but he was in a state of total shock that completely froze his body and prevented him from answering her. All he could do was continue to look up at the man that he knew as Edward Ashford, and who, until very recently, had been the head of the world's most powerful intelligence and defense organization.

He had only met this man a few times over the many years he had worked for the Council. Often it was for Edward to personally congratulate him for successfully completing his latest mission and usually consisted of a quick handshake and a forced smile. In every single one of those encounters, he had come off as rather pompous and supremely arrogant, which is what Carnage had come to expect from almost anyone who worked with the Illuminati Council.

His former liaison, Alistair, had been very much like that and it was something that he truly loathed about the Illuminati Council. However, in all of his previous encounters with Edward, he never once imagined that he would have been capable of completely betraying the human race and play a major part in bringing the entire planet to the brink of destruction. As his mind raced to try and make sense of everything going on, he let one word escape through his black needle-like teeth.

"Why?"

High above them, Edward heard Carnage's simple question in the dead silence that still filled the room. An amused smile crept across his worn and wrinkled face as his demeanour noticeably changed to one of amusement. Sailor Neptune, like Sailor Mars, was gifted with an extra sensory perception. She could sense most forms of impending danger or the sudden increase in negative energy as the planet's seas and waters reacted to them. Right now, the oceans were telling her that the evil she was in the presence of was on the same level as the Death Busters and the 'Silence' that they had attempted to unleash upon the Earth.

In each of the Sailors' personal views, Edward now had the physical presence of a cold merciless sociopath. He was someone that had completely lost or renounced any and all aspects of their humanity. This scary realization made the already tense atmosphere around them more unsettling and uncomfortable. They continued to look up at him as he began to walk slowly and casually along the ledge. His hands were hanging lightly behind him as one hand grasped the fingers of the other. He in front of Apachite, who was standing silently near a second large stone throne situated up on the ledge near the middle of it. Edward took a few more steps before stopping to look at something that none of the young warriors had yet noticed. Near the throne was another group of computer monitors that was noticeably smaller than the group of screens located on the ground with them. Edward looked down at them before walking up to the screens. He extended his right hand and flicked a switch on a console that was hidden from their view. The screens lit up as electrical power flowed into them. From their vantage point below, the Sailors couldn't see exactly what was on the screens but it looked like a series of world maps that a military or surveillance agency would use to keep track of some sort of global variable like weather patterns.

Edward took a few steps from the monitors and turned to look down at the ground before he resumed his casual stroll. This restarting of movement put the Sailors and Carnage's focus solely back on him. After a few more seconds, he turned to look back at the group but it was clear that his gaze was fixated on Carnage alone.

"Why, you ask? Let me ask you something, my dear friend, Carnage. Do you ever get tired of the seemingly endless struggle to protect this world? Every single day waking up to the same burning question: is this the day that the world finally ends? For decades now, I have constantly woken up to that very question. I have spent every waking moment of my adult life trying to keep this planet safe only to have a new threat arise the very second we defeat the previous one. Quite frankly, I have grown sick of it."

"So what? You decided to turn evil and align yourself with the Dark Kingdom?"

"You are mistaken, my fair Venus. I have not turned evil at all. My intentions are the same as they always were. I wish to save the people of this planet from themselves. When I succeed, the world will be stronger as a whole because of it."

"By joining the Dark Kingdom?"

"You have it backwards Sailor Saturn. The Dark Kingdom was the one that joined up with _me_. After you defeated Queen Beryl, I sought out the remaining survivors of her armies. I realized that their power would help lead me to my ultimate victory."

"So the entire Inner Council—"

"Oh no Carnage. You are mistaken in that assumption as well. The fools in the Inner Council did not have the stomach to do what needed to be done to save this world. I kept them completely in the dark and, used my authority as leader, to access and remove any and all information from Council's files on the Dark Kingdom so that no one would ever be able to put the pieces together. When we finally entered into the final stages of our plan, it then became necessary to remove the only human threat to us."

"You did that? You were the one that blew up the Council building and killed all those people?

"Not me personally, I merely authorized it. The Dark Kingdom's soldiers were the ones that did the dirty work. I must say I was pleasantly surprised to a small degree when you survived, first the global purge of the Council's international agents, and then the explosion at the main headquarters in London. Of all of my operatives you were always my favourite. It fills me with great joy that you will get to see the beginnings of my new world order."

"I have news for you buddy. We are never going to let you win."

"Let me win? My poor young fools, I have already won. The world's population will be under my control as it was meant to be."

"You want to control the world's people? That is impossible. No one will accept that let alone follow you."

"You are very correct in that statement. That is why I needed a trump card which the Dark Kingdom was instrumental in putting into place. As you saw in the file you stole from Council headquarters, we have been meeting with world leaders and high ranking military officials from every country in the world. My political connections and influence made setting up each of the meetings quite easy. The purpose behind these gatherings was simple. We needed to get the approval and permission from them to upgrade each country's national defense computer systems with my own software program."

The Sailors' eyes widened as that statement registered. They all exchanged looks with each other of impending dread as each of their minds raced with the multiple scenarios a person like Edward would do with that kind of unrestricted access and what it would mean for them and the rest of the world. Sailor Neptune looked back at Edward and Apachite. She slowly opened her mouth to speak and, as the words left her lips, she tried to keep her voice strong but her panic remained clear.

"So that means you have full control of every country's computerized weapons?"

"You are correct my dear. With the majority of the world's armaments under my complete control, the leaders of Earth will have no choice but to listen to me."

"And then what? What then?"

"We will restore this world to its original status. One kingdom with one ruling family just as it was 10,000 years ago during the Silver Millennium. Surely you of all people can appreciate what I am trying to accomplish."

The Sailors and Carnage remained silent. None of them looked away from from him or made any sort of physical gesture. All they could do was continue to stand there and try to take in what they were hearing and feeling as this pitiful excuse for a man revealed his master plan. The mention of the Moon Kingdom and the era that they had all lived in during their previous lives, struck a personal nerve with each of them. They were all well aware that he had said it to try to get them on his side and justify his evil actions. It was the sign of a desperate person looking for acceptance.

This entire situation was rapidly getting worse and none of them knew what they should do to stop it. If they directly attacked, they ran the risk that either Apachite or Edward would unleash some sort of disaster on an innocent population as punishment. They needed more information on their surroundings and what specifically was going to happen in Edward's end game so they could properly weigh their options. All they could do now was bide their time and keep Edward talking until an opportunity presented itself.

Edward leered down at the group of young heroes. His facial expression became a mixture of confusion and bewilderment, as if he couldn't understand why they were still choosing to oppose him and his brilliant plan. His body language noticeably shifted as it began to show signs of frustration, he wanted to convince them that what he was doing was the right thing for the betterment of Earth.

"Think of it, my friends. No more wars over a few miles of land. No more disputes over national borders. No more bloodshed over conflicting religious ideologies. Poverty and hunger completely eliminated by doing away with national debts and the rich minorities that control and horde the world's wealth for their own selfish purposes. No more corruption and greed in our societal infrastructures. A world united under one flag, my flag. Doesn't that sound ideal? Doesn't that sound perfect?"

"You unbelievably arrogant moron. You can't possibly be stupid enough to think that the Dark Kingdom would ever work under you as your own personal army. They want the world for themselves and to rule it under their beliefs, not yours."

"You are mistaken again. I am working _with _the Dark Kingdom not using them. Apachite and I are both working towards a common goal. I want to save the world by uniting it into one collective nation and he wants to conquer it. So by working as one cohesive unit, we will both achieve what we want. My connections and political power have helped the Dark Kingdom succeed where they have failed before."

"They will never share their power with you. They just want to destroy the world, not save it. If you succeed in your plan, they will kill you a second thought."

As Edward and the Sailor team continued to argue and debate, a shadowy figure silently dropped from the ceiling behind him. The new arrival landed near Apachite who turned his head slightly to address them. The Sailors and Carnage did not make it known that they had also noticed the unexpected entrance of the third person on the ledge. They chose to keep their focus solely on Edward since he was claiming to be the person in charge. Apachite smiled malevolently when he turned his head and saw that Ninjana had finally returned from her mission. No verbal words were exchanged between them, only a simple and silent question.

_'Is everything ready?' _

_'Yes. Awaiting your order._'

Apachite's smile grew even larger with that bit of news. He turned back to look at Edward. He let his shoulders relax as his fingers opened and closed with eager anticipation. Ninjana shifted her body so she could look down at the group of warriors on the main floor. She struggled to suppress the internal urge to leap down and stab each of them through the heart. She had to be patient and wait for her master's command. She would not ruin all of their hard work by being reckless especially when they were finally so close to absolute victory. She had to bide her time and keep her emotions and desire for revenge in check.

"I take it back. You are not a moron."

Edward turned his head from his stare down with Sailor Mercury to look at Carnage. He tilted his head slightly to the side to show him that he was giving his full attention. The other Sailors looked at the other mastermind of this incredibly horrific plot. They had not forgotten about Apachite and the new person standing next to him. It was then that they finally took a good hard look at the third person on the ledge. The monster looked like a humanoid female fully clad in battle armour. Sailor Mercury and Venus recognized her and let a small gasp escape their lips. Both of them asked themselves the same question: why she was still alive when they had both personally seen her destroyed by Sailor Moon? Was she a leftover from the shaman Apsu's tampering and manipulations of the Earth's past?

"You are an idiot. Only a complete and arrogant idiot like you would think that they would live long enough to see the end results of what you have set out to accomplish. Apachite will kill you the second he doesn't need you anymore."

Apachite turned to look at Ninjana. She felt his gaze and turned to look at him breaking her hard stare at the Sailors and Carnage. He gave her a small nod which she returned. She very quietly, and stealthily, took a position directly behind Edward. He still hadn't noticed her arrival. When she was in position, Apachite loudly cleared his throat drawing the attention of everyone present back to him.

"He is correct."

Edward looked at Apachite with surprise and confusion. Apachite only smiled at him with an evil and confident grin. After a moment, he rolled his shoulders and puffed his chest to intimate Edward.

"Did you really think that we wouldn't put something in the program upgrades for ourselves? It was deliciously amusing to watch as you stupidly believed that we would help you with your plot with no strings attached. You merely provided an opportunity for us to do what our foolish former queen failed to. And now that we have completed the final phase of _our _master plan, your services are no longer required."

Ninjana quickly unsheathed her katana and proceeded to run the blade through Edward's back. The tip of the sword erupted out of his chest and pierced the expensive silk shirt underneath his jacket. The strike had been aimed perfectly as it passed directly through his heart. His body arched backwards and his white undershirt quickly became stained with blood.

Edward's body began to twitch and his face quickly became slick with sweat. His breathing became laboured as it became rapidly more and more difficult to breath. He turned his head and focused his shocked-filled eyes on his assassin. He only got an ice cold stare in return and what looked like a smile underneath her skin tight mask.

The Sailors gasped as they watched the grizzly scene unfold before them. They had all seen Ninjana position herself behind Edward but she had moved too fast for any of them to stop her or voice any sort of warning. The sight of the sword poking through his chest caused Sailor Mercury and Venus to turn their heads and close their eyes as the visual was too gruesome for them to continue to look at. The Outers and Carnage did not break their gaze but the look in the Outer Sailors' eyes changed to ones of regret and sadness. To the Sailor team, all life was precious even ones as black and cold as Edward's.

Ninjana pulled her sword from Edward's body and let it slump to the ground with a loud thud. In the magically induced light, that continued to fill the room, they could see that the long blade was dripping with red blood that further increased the horrific act that had occurred. She turned to look over at Apachite and gave him a gesture that signaled to him that she was awaiting his next command.

Apachite smiled and stood straighter as he brushed the front of his jacket with his white gloves.

"Go ahead, you have earned it."

Ninjana nodded her head and turned back to face the Sailors. She bent her knees and jumped down the twenty feet to the floor. As she descended to the ground, she raised her katana over her head as a sign that she was going to swing it in a deadly arch. The Outer Sailors leapt back to put some distance between them and where their incoming opponent was going to land. Sailor Uranus raised her own sword while Sailor Saturn lowered her glaive into a defensive posture. Sailor Neptune raised her arms and got into a traditional karate stance balancing on the balls of her feet. This allowed her to be ready to move at a moment's notice.

Ninjana landed and spun her sword in deadly 280 degree spin. The Sailors were safely out of the danger zone and once the blade had passed their individual positions, they quickly moved in to engage her before she could launch another attack. Sailor Uranus rushed forward and sliced through the air with her own sword in a downward motion meant to chop the murderous monster across its chest. Ninjana raised her katana and held it horizontally across the front of her body. Sailor Uranus' blade came down and was stopped by Ninjana's sword. She pushed down on her blade in an attempt to cause Ninjana to physically falter or fatigue which would allow her an opening for a second attack.

As Sailor Uranus continued to struggle with their opponent, Sailor Mercury and Venus took the opportunity to send their strongest melee attacks at the Dark Kingdom's master assassin.

"Shine Aqua Illusion."

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock."

A stream of icy water and several golden heart-shaped energy blasts sailed through the air towards their intended target.

Ninjana sensed the incoming attacks and cast her eyes to the right. She lifted one of her feet and planted it up and against Sailor Uranus' abdomen. She pushed off with her leg sending her body backwards into an aerial somersault. She landed in a crouched position on one knee with both hands grasping her katana. She managed to successfully avoid the freezing liquid and energy darts by a few inches as well as break the stalemate she had been in with Sailor Uranus.

With her sword still out and ready, she quickly looked around the scene as she checked another incoming attack or an opportunity to launch one of her own. Suddenly, her body jerked forward and her eyes grew wide. She slowly lowered her head and looked down at her chest where she saw two curved blades protruding.

In a mirrored reaction of the man she had just killed minutes ago, she slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder. As the scene behind her came into focus she first saw a long iron shaft that was connected to the twin metallic blades protruding from her upper torso. As her eyes panned upwards and followed the length of the metal pole, she found the person holding onto it.

Sailor Saturn stared back at her with a look of fierce determination. She gripped the long metallic handle tightly in her hands. As she looked into the murderous monster's eyes, she pulled hard on the shaft forcing the blades to retract and slide out of Ninjana with a sickening sound. When the sharp pieces of metal left her body, she fell forward, her katana slipping from her loose grip before hitting the ground with a loud steel clank.

With the brief battle over, the Sailors turned together to look up at the only remaining enemy in the room. He wasn't where they had last seen him and it took them a second or two to locate him again. When they all found Apachite, Carnage was up on the ledge holding him off the ground by the neck. It was clear that he had wounded the last remaining general of the Dark Kingdom, as his right arm was hanging limply at his side and a large amount of blood could be seen seeping through the material of his jacket. His left hand was griping and clawing at the arm that Carnage was using to hold him off the ground. Behind them, the computer screens were no longer showing various satellite maps of the world. They were black except for an ominous digital counter. As they stared in disbelief, the numbers were rapidly counting down and it was telling them that they had less than two minutes before whatever it was signaling would occur.

"What did you just do?"

The loud roar from their team mate intensified the panic the Sailors were feeling. When they had been briefly engaged with Ninjana, Carnage had gone after Apachite. He scaled the wall that separated the high and low areas of the room using the adrenaline he had felt surging in his veins. Apachite had turned when Ninjana had leapt off the ledge and proceeded to walk towards the monitors. As Carnage had climbed over the edge of the niche, he had seen Apachite reach for a single red button located on a small console in front of the bank of screens.

In response, Carnage had sent out a tendril that wrapped itself tightly around Apachite's wrist to prevent him from pushing the button. Unfortunately, he had underestimated Apachite's physical strength and he had still been able to force his hand forward enough to press it. The fear and despair that raced through Carnage as he saw the button being pushed had made thinking difficult. He maintained his hold on Apachite's wrist as he approached the ensnared general. When he cruelly smiled at him Carnage lost control of his emotions. He used his symbiote enhanced strength to dislocated Apachite's shoulder and bluntly punched him in the stomach with a square shaped piece of pseudopod. It was at that point that he had grabbed the evil leader of the resurrected Dark Kingdom by the neck and lifted him off his feet in a desperate attempt to get him to stop whatever he had just set into motion.

"What did you just do?"

The rage in Carnage's voice was unmistakable as he repeated his question again. Apachite began to laugh despite his laboured breathing and grip Carnage had around his neck. He coughed several times as he struggled to breath before lifting his head and locking his brown eyes with Carnage's solid white ones.

The anguish and fear he saw in the monstrous eyes of the hero that was holding him was simply delicious. It had been a masterful stroke on his part when he made that deal with Professor Tomoe several years ago. In exchange for helping him build his Mugen Academy School and another favour to be used later on the Professor had cloned his lieutenant, Ninjana from the leftover biological material he had gathered when she was originally destroyed. The second was for the Professor to have his best technological skilled servants to rewrite the computer program given to him by Edward Ashford to suit his own agenda.

The two scientists, Viluy and Eudial, seemed to have done an adamant job in their retooling of the program's protocols. He knew from the intense look in the red monster's eyes how this was going to end, and it didn't bother him in the slightest. He gave him one final smirk before he began to speak.

"I have initiated the final phase of my grand plan. I have taken control of every nuclear warhead and missile on this planet and have begun the launch sequences. In one swift stroke, I will destroy the human race and everything you love. The revenge of the Dark Kingdom will be complete as the planet Earth will be destroyed just like the Moon Kingdom."

"Abort it now!"

"There is no way to stop it. No magic button to push or power cord to unplug. This world is going to burn to ashes and you are all powerless to do anything about it."

Carnage let out an unholy scream as the rage, desperation and despair boiled over. Before any of the Sailors could react, a thick strand of symbiotic material shot out from the center of Carnage's chest. The end of it formed into a sharp pointed arrowhead before it passed through Apachite's body in a particularly brutal fashion. It erupted from his back with an outwards splash of blood as it pierced his uniform jacket.

Before the shocking scene could be fully comprehended by everyone present, Carnage retracted the lance and let go of Apachite. The large hole in his chest was making breathing near impossible and he was quickly losing whatever physical strength he had as his blood continued to seep out of the fatal wound. He fell forward against Carnage before dropping to his knees. He still had enough strength to lift his head. He locked his eyes with the person that was serving as his executioner. As he stared up at Carnage, he began to roughly cough up blood.

As his vision started to become cloudy, he saw Carnage raise his left arm up over his head. The fingers on the hand elongated before his finger claws fused together and morphed into a fearsome trio of blades the size of bayonets. Apachite malevolently smiled one final time as Carnage swiped the blades downwards and cut him deeply across his torso. The razor-sharp edges of the blades sliced through the fabric of his uniform with ease and found the skin and muscle underneath. The force and momentum of the lethal caused the organic knives to cut deep into Apachite's flesh without resistance. The tips of two of the three blades made contact with his lungs and the top blade sliced across the front of his neck as they moved across his body. A thick spray of blood could be seen flying off the tips as the blades finished their brutal task. The momentum and direction of the strike sent Apachite's body falling to the right and out of the Sailors sight.

The Sailors continued to stand in shock at the brutality they had just witnessed. For Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn they couldn't say with confidence whether they wouldn't have reacted the same way if they had been in Carnage's position. Sailors Mercury and Venus were almost sick with revulsion at what their friend had just done. Unlike their older team mates they still weren't used to the idea that sometimes extreme measures had to be taken for the greater good. It was something that both sets of Sailor teams had clashed over several times in the past especially during their war with the Death Busters. However, it would be very tough for anyone to justify that Apachite deserved to die in such a barbaric manner, even after everything he had done. They were symbols of love and justice and what they had just seen did not feel like justice to them.

A few seconds after Apachite's lifeless body fell to the ground, the countdown finally reached zero and a loud alarm began to blare through the room. The Sailors snapped out of the shock and surprise. They all looked around frantically as the siren seemed to intensify as it bounced and echoed off the walls of the large cavern and surrounding tunnels. Sailor Mercury pulled her minicomputer out and began a desperate attempt to link with Apachite's computer. She was hoping that she could find some way to abort the launches of the nuclear missiles.

Carnage jumped back down and joined the group on the main floor. His sudden arrival momentarily startled Sailor Venus but quickly regained focus as she resumed her frantic search of the area. In the magical light that still remained, she noticed blood was still dripping from the finger claws of his hand as it hung by his leg.

Sailor Mercury's computer loudly beeped and chirped which was barely audible as the earsplitting siren continued. She looked down at the screen and her face became sunken and the colour rapidly drained from her face. The other Sailors looked at her anxiously and waited for her to say something.

Carnage felt he already knew what Sailor Mercury's computer had told her and the blood in his veins ran ice cold as his symbiote felt his internal anguish. Apachite had been telling the truth, there was no way to stop the launching of the world's missiles once the sequence was started. There was truly nothing they could do. They had to get back to Japan and save as many people as they could from the hellfire that was rapidly approaching their homeland.

From a spot at the side of Carnage's left hip, a large vertical opening appeared in the red symbiotic costume. He reached into the tear in the material and pulled out a small brown leather bag. In a quick series of movements long thick pseudopods sprang out from the sides of his ribs and encircled each of the Sailors. The strands pushed the girls closer together and moved them into close proximity of him. Once that was complete, he quickly opened the bag and poured some gold coloured dust over himself and each of the girls.

"Carnage. What the hell?"

He didn't bother to respond to Sailor Uranus' remark. He continued to dump the contents of the bag on them until it was finally empty. He had taken the pouch from the Illuminati Council's airplane before they had arrived in Edmonton just in case they found themselves in a situation where they needed the fastest mode of transportation. With the sac's contents fully emptied onto the group of warriors, he tossed it aside. He then loudly clapped his hands together and spoke in a language that only Sailor Mercury recognized as Latin.

"Addo nos domus."

In a bright flash of light they disappeared. When they reappeared a they found themselves in Mamoru's apartment living room. As they quickly took in their surroundings and realized where they were, they saw that their friends were there as well: Usagi, Rei, and the others. They looked at them with complete surprise on their faces.

"Whoa. Where did you all come from?"

"There is no time to talk Usagi. You need to use the Silver Moon Crystal _now_!"

Sailor Venus' frantic order caught Rei and the others off guard. The looks on the faces of their newly arrived friends quickly told them that something really bad had happened in Canada, and judging by how tense they were, whatever it was had just occurred or was about too. Usagi began to open her mouth again to ask a follow-up question but was cut off by Sailor Mercury, who uncharacteristically raised her voice into a desperate scream.

"Usagi! Transform now or we are all going to die by nuclear missiles!."

That stopped everyone with that one sentence registered with each of them. For anyone who lived in Japan, the word 'nuclear' was something that touched a very terrifying and primal instinct inside their psyche. As being the only country in recorded history to ever be intentionally nuclear bombed, it had become deeply ingrained into the social fabric of their very society. Even for someone like Usagi, who didn't pay much attention in school and knew very little about world history that one word still held the same impact as someone who had actually lived through it almost sixty-seven years ago. Without any further delay, she grabbed her brooch from center of her blouse and raised it above her head.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Make-Up."

The few seconds it took to change into Eternal Sailor Moon seemed to go on forever. When the transformation was finally complete, she tilted her head down and fixed her gaze on the heart-shaped compact attached to the large bow on the front of her uniform. She held her hands with the palms facing each other and a small open space in between them. As she closed her eyes, a brilliant white light began to quickly fill the room. The light quickly became blinding in the small space of the apartment. Carnage and the other Sailors squinted and narrowed their eyes as they tried to see exactly what Sailor Moon was doing. A second later, a small silver lotus flower shaped crystal appeared out of the mostly white brooch, the Silver Moon Crystal.

"Please protect everyone. Protect the people of this planet from the coming danger."

As she gave her orders to the crystal, her voice became filled with the unmistakable tone of determination that everyone had heard several times before. In every single one of their previous battles, when they were in their darkest hour, Usagi would always rise to the occasion and use her unbreakable spirit and unflinching resolve to find the smallest bit of hope left and use it to beat their enemy and save the world. They all had complete confidence in their friend and future queen but it was very difficult to keep the paralyzing terror that was quickly overwhelming them from cracking that strong belief.

The crystal brightly flashed several times before it shot out the window like a bullet and disappeared from view a second later. As the crystal soared away from them, it left a trail of sparkling energy behind, giving the appearance of a blazing comet sailing through the vast reaches of outer space.

The Sailors and their two male allies stood in silence. No one knew what to say, or if it was appropriate to say anything at all given the circumstances. Rei, who was facing the open doorway of the balcony, tilted her head up it leaned to the side as her eyes noticed something a great distance. She extended her head slightly forward as she strained to see what exactly it was. As she stared out the balcony door, her facial expression quickly became devoid of all emotion as the size of her eyes widened to almost impossible limits. She slowly started to walk towards the balcony door passing by each of her friends. When she reached the exterior door's threshold, she let a single word barely louder than a whisper pass through her lips.

"Guys."

The rest of them looked up at her. They stared at her as it took them a few seconds to notice and then realize that she was looking at something out in the city. They all followed her out onto the balcony as their eyes scanned the city scape. Just like before, the blood them ran cold and the inside of their mouths became dry. The paralyzing fear they were currently feeling intensified and they froze in place. Carnage took a position beside Makoto and gently took her hand in his while Mamoru stood behind Sailor Moon and placed his hands on top of her shoulders. She lifted her hand and placed it lightly on one of his hand. She did not turn her head from what she and everyone else was looking at to address his loving gesture. She was too fixated by her fear to break the hold the she had on what was coming towards them.

In the clear blue sky that was spread out before them, several long trails of white smoke were making their way across the vast open space. The long thick streams of vapour were similar in appearance to the emissions given off by airplanes as they flew through the sky. However, these objects were clearly moving much faster and in a much lower altitude than what would be considered normal. It took each of them a moment to realize that what they all were looking at some of the incoming nuclear missiles Apachite had launched and any one or all of them could be heading straight towards Tokyo.

As the missiles came closer, one of them broke away from the group and began to rapidly descend towards the middle of the city. The arch and direction of its nosedive showed it was going to impact with the ground about three miles away from Mamoru's apartment. When the warhead was only a few seconds from impact a twinkling object appeared on the horizon to the west. Not all of the Sailors saw it at first as it streaked towards them at a fantastic speed. The mid-afternoon sunshine struck the reflective surface of the object causing it to sparkle and gleam. This glistening was what caught some of the Sailors' attention. Carnage and a few others briefly thought it was another missile. As it continued to approach they came to realize that it was the Silver Moon Crystal returning back to them.

Carnage instinctively put his arms around Makoto and held her in a protective embrace. She turned her body away from the incoming missile and pressed her face firmly against his chest. That single act made her appear much younger then she really was. She looked like a small child seeking solace from a parent. It was quite a sight to watch her usual demeanour as the tough and courageous person vanish completely to reveal the innocent young woman she truly was inside. A few feet away, Mamoru did a similar action with Usagi, who in turn mirrored Makoto's reaction.

The Silver Moon Crystal came directly toward them and as it came closer, the remaining Sailors who had not yet seen it turned their heads to watch its rapid approach. The crystal came to a sudden stop in the air just above the group. It began to circle over them as it sprinkled shiny silvery energy down onto the Sailor team.

Almost instantly, every single one of them became encased in a semi-transparent shell of pure quartz crystal. When the last of them was fully sealed inside their protective crystallite blocks, the Silver Moon Crystal quickly returned to its place inside Sailor Moon's brooch before the crystal cocoon surrounding her fully solidified. Each member of the Sailor team entered in a state of suspended animation upon being sealed inside the crystal's power. Their vital signs slowed down as their bodies quickly adapted to the sudden stasis change.

The missile impacted with the ground at a terrifying speed. A blinding flash of intense white light ripped through the air. The semi-opaque material of the crystal shells protected their occupants from suffering the permanent effects of what scientists referred to as flash blindness. As the light started to dim it was replaced by a bright and deep orange-red that filled the baby blue sky. An immense cylindrical cloud rose from the spot where the bomb had impacted the earth. The size of the cloud appeared to be about two miles in width at its base and reached up as high as eighteen kilometres into the atmosphere. This upwards release of energy pushed the atmospheric clouds away from the area directly below the bomb's hypocenter. When the cloud reached the apex of its ascension, it began to spread out to the sides and create the trademark mushroom cloud often associated with nuclear explosions.

A blast of immeasurable heat instantly followed the rapidly dimming flash of light. As it streaked through the air, it set everything around it ablaze. Trees burst into flames as metallic objects of various shapes and sizes melted and liquefied where they stood. Steam rose from the ground as the soil underneath became superheated and any moisture present instantly evaporated. As the hellish fires continued to burn, the seismic shock wave created by the missile's impact with the ground and the resulting thermonuclear reaction spread out in a perfect 360 degree circle. The sonic wave unleashed by the explosion leveled concrete buildings as if they were made of paper, blowing them down with speeds like the very winds of God itself. The shock and sonic waves tossed cars, buses, and transport trucks like they weighed nothing at all tearing the roofs off many of them as they did so.

Mamoru's apartment building became vaporized but the crystal quartz shells the Sailor team were encased in managed to hold up against the awesome and terrifying onslaught of forces. The crystal carapaces tumbled to the ground as the building underneath them crumbled away. They hit the ground with incredible force but did not shatter as they came to a rest relatively close to each other.

All around the world, similar scenes were occurring. Whole towns, cities, and metropolises were being destroyed in seconds in the same sequence of light flashes, heat blasts, sonic, and seismic waves. The radiation levels released from the multiple thermonuclear reactions instantly contaminated the surrounding soils of the Earth and made it unable to sustain life or to come in close contact with without suffering immediate radiation sickness or burns. The numerous detonations occurring across the planet pushed the clouds up in the atmosphere in all directions and caused tons of soil and debris to be kicked up into the lower troposphere effectively blocking out the sun's rays.

This dust blanket would remain in the atmosphere for months and not lose its thickness as the planet's gravitational force maintained its altitude. This caused the Earth's temperature to drop below freezing levels and created what scientists referred to as nuclear winter.

End of Chapter 13…


	15. Epilogue

1Chapter 15: Epilogue

2912 A.D.

The little blue orb called Earth sailed slowly along its orbit around the galaxy's sun; just as it had continued to do for the past nine hundred years. It's silent and peaceful journey through the vast and quiet territory of the Solar System mirrored the quiet and passive environment that had been occurring on its surface.

A long time ago, large blots of yellow and white lights could be seen in hundreds of locations across its vast landscape serving as markers for the numerous massive cities. Now there were only shades of green and brown that coloured the landmasses. Many other things had changed over the past nine centuries and it was finally time for the start of a new era for the Earth. The beautiful blue and white star, that was the only source of life in the Milky Way galaxy, was in the process of stretching its metaphorical muscles and awakening from its long hibernation.

Under the white cloud cover that spotted along the breathtaking mostly appearance of the planet, the rolling green landscapes of its continents were teeming with renewed life. Vast fields of wild grass and flowers covered the numerous flat plains that made up several enormous sections of land forms. The rain forests that, had once been endangered by human greed and consumption, were now once again dense and lush. The dozens of rolling and majestic global mountain ranges had undergone many transformations throughout the many, many years of seismic activity and weather conditions, and had become much more mature and visually impressive as the Earth's climate left its mark on each of them. The immense ocean bodies that divided the enormous landmasses were once again filled with various forms of life after being mostly spared by the apocalyptic disaster that had ravaged the planet's ecosystem nine centuries ago. The thousands of species of birds, plants, and animals that had once shared the land with humans had taken full advantage of the deep sleep the planet had fallen into and were once again thriving in areas they had been previously been pushed out of.

In places where the once mighty cities stood, there were only ruins that served as reminders of their existence. Like the monuments of ancient Rome, Greece, and the Central America Indian tribes, such as the Inca or Aztec, the remnants of the skyscraper buildings and motor vehicles that marked the spot where they had once proudly stood were merely a bookmark in the Earth's history. They had been worn down by the several centuries of weather and were now covered by moss and other plant life as the planet attempted to reclaim each of them. The various shapes and sizes of these ruins, covered in green vines and plant life, made them beautiful to look at and would surely inspire many artists of various disciplines for many years to come. High above them, the baby blue sky with white fluffy clouds moving silently through it only seemed to enhance the natural beauty of the planet's transformation. This natural picturesqueness shined new light onto the Earth; following its dark and tragic past.

All along the various landscapes, and in among the ruins of the cities, the former masters of the planet were still in the process of adjusting to the new world they all found themselves in. They had no idea of how much time had passed and where they were even currently located. Some of the more resourceful individuals used the rising and falling of the sun as a marker for the passage of time. According to that logical measurement, it had been about seven days since the crystal cocoons they had all been in finally cracked and released them from their extended hibernation. Each and every one of them had their memories intact so they all remembered how the world had once been.

The majority of them did not recognize the world they found themselves in, as the landmarks they were used to seeing were nowhere in sight. It was an understandable shock and completely rational to believe that it would take the awaking masses of people a long time to fully adjust to the sudden change in environment. In typical human nature, a large portion of the populace refused to leave the areas they had once called home, even though all semblances of their former lives had been almost completely destroyed and had long since been reclaimed by the planet. The one thing that every single one of them shared was the notion that they did not know yet why they had been spared from the nuclear nightmare that some of them remembered witnessing just before being encased in the crystal shells. It would be two years before the truth of what had happened became fully known and generally accepted by the world's population.

When the reality of what had occurred was finally revealed; it would be explained to the masses by the two individuals that had assumed the leadership duties of the planet following the disaster.

The human race that had once dominated and thrived on Earth had been spared the various horrific deaths caused by the nuclear Armageddon, because of the love and courage of a small band of warriors that had fought with everything they had to protect everyone on the planet. In the final moments of the 21st century, the warrior known as Eternal Sailor Moon had used her most powerful magical object, the Silver Moon Crystal, in a desperate and last stitched effort to save the planet from total destruction. The crystal's response to Sailor Moon's plea was to sail around the world and encase every single person in an indestructible shell of quartz crystal that would protect them from the shock and seismic waves, intense heat, and the long term radiation that was caused by the nuclear missile explosions; and later on, the catastrophic weather conditions that were a result of them.

The crystal cocoons had remained around each person for nine centuries as the worldwide radiation levels were far too high to properly sustain life, and the Earth needed time for those levels to diminish before human life could start again. Once the Silver Moon Crystal detected that it was once again safe it had first released Sailor Moon from her shell. It was then that she released everyone else and started the new era of humanity on Earth.

The one lingering question that many people demanded to know the answer to was: who had been responsible for the nuclear calamity? In response to the public outcry, the future King and Queen of Earth would reveal the specific details of the final hour of the Earth they had all once known.

The last general of the Dark Kingdom, Apachite, had uploaded a computer program under the ruse of being a technological upgrade to almost all of the countries with a computerized national defense system. The software was meant to seize complete control of the nation's automated weapons and lock out the government officials that had access to them. The program's intention was to bend the will of the people into following its creator, Edward Ashford's, misguided dream of ending many of the world's problems by uniting it into one collective nation under his leadership and guidance. However, Apachite had secretly rewritten the software's protocols so that it contained a trojan virus that began to replicate itself immediately upon installation into each computer system. The virus was designed to spread throughout the system but also to leach out into surrounding terminals and databases through any modems and routers that were connected to the main computer.

Over time, the program's reach spread as it continued to disperse itself throughout the affected country's computer systems as it jumped from computer to computer through WI-FI access and phone lines. By the time Apachite had activated the virus's main program, it had taken root in millions of computer servers across the planet. It had gotten into ordinary computers in office buildings, dorm rooms, internet cafes, and personal computers in people's houses. It had become a form of software that flowed freely in the endless web of cyberspace. There had been no system core and no central computer for the Sailor team to destroy in that final hour to shut the program down. The virus' fist protocol was to launch the entire planet's nuclear weapons upon itself, all 23,000 missiles that were still active and ready at a moment's notice. The second prescript was to target all the major cities across the planet to achieve the highest level of destruction. The virus' internal programing allowed it to make sure that it was effective in targeting as many urban centres as it could across the world and not waste several warheads on one city when one or two would be more than enough to level the metropolis.

The irony of the overall situation was not lost on everyone when they would hear the king and queen's account of those events as they would all think about how the human race was almost completely destroyed by the weapons they had originally built to protect themselves. The King had summed up the explanation for what had happened by quoting a famous thinker and philosopher by the name of Eric Schmidt, from the previous era of humankind.

"The internet was the first thing that humanity built that humanity didn't fully understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had!"

However that soon to be famous line and the speech that it would be contained in would not occur for another two years. At the moment, all the members of the Sailor team could do was move forward and try to resume their new lives as best they could together. It had been exactly one week according to Ami's computer since the Great Awakening and they had spent that time traveling the landscape that had once been the mighty nation of Japan. As they moved along the terrain, they found other people who were also wandering the unfamiliar landscape in search of either other survivors or supplies they needed to survive.

Sean and Makoto were acting as the group's scouts by moving ahead of the constantly growing group to survey the upcoming topography and spot any possible dangers such as: bands of marauders or hazardous natural obstacles such as: a raging river, so they could safely navigate the people around them.

Sean and Makoto were walking up a steep grass and flower covered ridge while the rest of team stayed with the crowd of over a hundred and fifty people. The scenery around them as they moved upwards along the sharp incline was nothing short of breathtaking. The green covered land stretched out in the three directions that they could see with the thin blue line in the distance that marked the edge of the Pacific Ocean to their right. A gentle breeze blew through the tall strands of wild grass and flowers that decorated the landscape. The yellow sun shined down on them and warmed the air. This made it feel like the perfect summer afternoon that they both remembered enjoying in their youths. Makoto stopped at the halfway point of the elevation and panned her head to look in the direction of the ocean that had once been part of Tokyo Bay.

"I can't believe how beautiful the world has become. It's still hard to believe that there is so little of Tokyo left."

"I know… but at least we are all still alive and able to enjoy this natural beauty. We owe many thanks to Usagi and the Silver Moon Crystal!"

Sean took a position behind Makoto as he spoke. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him. She in turn; moved closer to him. She turned her head and smiled at him with her bright green eyes over her shoulder. Since they had both been reawakened, their relationship had reached a new level of intimacy that they hadn't reached before the Deep Sleep. Even though they had been in suspended animation for almost a millennium; they still had memories of that time period. They remembered holding each other just before the Silver Moon Crystal encased them together in that embrace for all of the following years. The unbroken physical contact between them made them share their body heat for those nine centuries which helped maintain a better balance of their individual internal core functions than people that had been in single shells. That physical connection had also allowed their bodies to accept the abrupt hibernation much easier, and emotionally, it was something that only a few other people across the world had shared with them as they had slept.

They broke the tender moment between them at the same time and continued to climb the ridge in silence. They were approaching the top of the summit that stretched out for a hundred yards in either direction. The top of the land formation looked to be about another hundred feet from their position which would make it about two hundred feet tall in total.

They stopped their upward climb and, in unison, tilted their heads up as they eyed the summit. They lowered their heads and turned to face each other. The mutual looks they had in their eyes were paired with mischievous grins that stretched across their lips.

"Race you to the top?"

"You're on, green eyes!"

They turned to face the hill and tilted their torsos forward as they got into a position that was reminisce of the Olympic sprinters of the past. They tilted their body mass forward and lifted their heels off the ground as they balanced their weight on the balls of their feet. Without turning to look at her, so he could keep his eyes facing forward, Sean addressed her with a simple statement.

"On three… 1… 2… 3…"

They both took off like bats out of hell and raced up the uneven terrain of the formation. Both of them were in superb physical shape and were easily the strongest members of the Sailor team, although Haruka was an arguable physical match. The many centuries they had spent in suspended animation had understandably slowed their reflexes to some degree, but over the past week they had been training together in their down time and now were back to where they felt they had been before the nuclear holocaust.

They were neck and neck for the majority of the ascension up the ridge. They watched each other out of the corner of their eyes to gage whether or not the other was showing any signs of tiring or about to admit defeat. As they neared the end of their race, Sean's foot landed on a piece of loose soil which caused him to stumble slightly. This break in his running rhythm allowed Makoto to take the lead and hold on to it until her right boot touched the flat spot that marked the top of the grassy range. She turned around just in time to see that Sean was only a couple seconds behind her.

Her resulting bright smile at her victory made him grin back, which lessened any disappointment he may have felt for losing to her. He lowered his head as he let his body begin to calm down and his breathing cycle return to normal. It was clearly apparent that his cardiovascular endurance still needed some improvement following his long stay in suspended animation.

Makoto continued to grin as she watched her boyfriend recover from their race. She turned around to look at what was on the other side of the ridge as her mind was already attempting to think of ways to convince Usagi to conquer this ridge when they went back to lead the group. She started to chuckle as she thought about her dear friend's impending reaction to this natural formation when her eyes immediately caught something shiny less than five miles away.

"I am warning you green eyes! Once I get my stamina back, you and I are going to have a re-m…"

Sean stopped his playful comment when he lifted his head and looked towards Makoto. Her body was tense and she made no indication that she had heard him. Her eyes were fixated on something in front of them and off in the distance. He stood up straight and took the few steps needed to stand beside her again. He immediately saw what Makoto was looking at and his eyes widened with utter surprise and shock.

A short time later, Makoto was racing back to the spot where they had left the other sailors. Her sudden and abrupt arrival at the group's rest area caught them all by surprise and they immediately went into alert mode as they all shared the same thought: something bad was coming and they needed to be ready to defend themselves.

Makoto hurried up to them. Her breathing was heavy and she was sweating from her non-stop sprint. She began to rapidly speak as her friends gathered around her. Her tone of voice was clearly excited about whatever had caused her to rush back to them in such a dramatic manner. The absence of Sean did not go unnoticed by any of them and their overall concern for what was happening rapidly grew.

"Guys…we found something that you have to see… please follow me!"

The sailors and Mamoru nodded their heads. Rei and Mamoru left to quickly explain to the crowd that were under their protection and that they were going to check some possible options for a shelter and would be back soon. Once the mass of people nodded in acknowledgment, Rei and Mamoru then advised them to stay put and even went so far as to appoint several of the strongest members of the flock to act as defenders in their absence.

Once the people had been properly informed of their departure, the members of the Sailor team followed Makoto as she ran through the flat fields and small clusters of foliage to the base of the large ridge. From their vantage point at its base, they could see Sean at the top and they all breathed a collective sigh of relief. At least he was alright, they all thought to themselves.

As they ascended the ridge, Usagi, surprisingly did not voice any gripes about the toughness of the climb. In times of crisis, or when the situation called for it, she had demonstrated a maturity that was beyond her age. It was what had led her and the Sailor team to victory several times when defeat and destruction were almost certainly assured. She and Mamoru were the last ones to reach the apex of the land form but they immediately saw what Makoto, Sean, and the rest of the team were looking at.

About five miles away, an immense crystalline rock formation stood. It stretched high into the sky and its base was shaped like a star with five points spreading out in different directions. From their location atop the ridge, they could see that the crystal like material appeared to be semitransparent. It stood in the centre of a vast scape of flat terrain that stretched out for miles in all directions.

For the Inner sailors, this incredible structure had special significance to them. The Outer soldiers and Sean gasped as the sight of the crystal structure triggered memories of previous conversations they had with their younger friends. The Inner sailors, Mamoru, and Usagi had seen this structure once before, years ago when they had time traveled to the future to save Chibiusa's parents from the Black Moon clan.

"The Crystal Palace…"

The three word announcement from Minako resonated deep within each of the Inner sailors. They all had been frequently remembering that period of time for the past week ever since they had all been reawakened. When the Inner sailors had landed successfully in the future, they had encountered that era's king. He had told them about an environmental disaster that would mark the end of the second age of mankind and the beginning of the Crystal Millennium.

Seeing the seemingly unnatural formation that stood before them, that could only be the very same Crystal Palace they had seen during that adventure, everything finally seemed to fall into place. Usagi, ever the speaker of the obvious, gave voice to the second mutual thought shared among them.

"This is where Crystal Tokyo is going to be…"

The End!


End file.
